Family Trauma Assessment

Assessments Jennifer was administered assessments to understand the areas in which her reported trauma and previous diagnoses may be affecting her life. The assessments have aided in the clinician’s background knowledge to assist in the client’s therapeutic growth. Jennifer has completed a genogram, a timeline activity, and the PTSD Check List for the DSM-5. All of the instructions for these assessments, formal and informal, were explained to the client as well as the reasons for administering them.
Family Genogram
The genogram was administered in an earlier session. The client discussed multiple family members and ex-relationships that I felt needed a visual representation. This informal assessment allowed the clinician to gain a better understanding of all the major players in the client’s life as well as potential experiences or people that needed to be further addressed in later sessions. Jennifer was taken aback by the amount of relational distress and prior substance abuse that her life revolved around.
Timeline Activity
The second assessment was administered during the client’s third session to help the clinician understand the positive and negative events in the client’s life. This informal assessment quickly turned into a trauma timeline as every piece of the timeline
The PTSD Check List for DSM-5 was implemented by the clinician after clinical supervision to rule out any PTSD diagnosis. The client recorded her answers based on her 2010 miscarriage. The PCL-5 asked the client twenty questions, ranked from “not at all” to “extremely” about her memories, physical reactions, negative beliefs, and more to pinpoint a potential diagnosis. The questions were divided up by criteria in the DSM-5 and the client recorded a positive diagnosis based on her results. The results were carefully reviewed, discussed, and then confirmed by the clinician, the supervisor, and the