Substance Abuse Assessments, or Evaluations, can be required by employers,
schools, courts, universities, the military, and the like. However, it's not uncommon
for an individual to independently want to have their substance use
behaviors evaluated to obtain a professional perspective. The goal of an Assessment
is to ascertain a person's past and current substance use patterns and,
when warranted, make appropriate recommendations for further prevention,
education, intervention, counseling or treatment services. Recommendations are
based on the DSM and ASAM Placement Criteria.
WHAT TO EXPECT:
At 1st Step Referral Services private session(s) are conducted by a Certified
Addictions Counselor (CAC) - a person knowledgeable and state certified in the
field of substance abuse. Every agency has a specific process for evaluating
substance use patterns and making recommendations. Some organizations rely
on standardized tools that determine the outcome. Our experienced CACs use an
Integrated bio-psyhcosocial model which necessitates a multidimensional assessment
through personal interviewing. This promotes productive integration of a
broad range of individual factors, while perserving common clinical dimensions.
In other words, we believe in the personal approach and save the tools for validation
of recommendations after the Assessment.
Because we believe
open communication is so important in this process, you will be given an
overview of preliminary recommendations before you leave the office. (Some exceptions
do apply.) So you can leave us without the uncertainty you came with.
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