Psychological Evaluations

Adults seek psychological and neuropsychological evaluations for a number of reasons. You may need an evaluation:

• to help in educational and career planning
• to determine whether you have a diagnosis such as a learning or attentional disorder that may make you eligible for accommodations in college or graduate school
• to provide data about your abilities for admission into specific programs or schools
• to assess your functioning in the face of certain medical problems such as seizure disorder or following recovery from a head injury.

For everyone, a comprehensive assessment can be extremely helpful in learning about individual cognitive strengths and weaknesses that can guide life and career planning.

If you are seeking a diagnostic evaluation of your intellectual, psychological or learning abilities, I will ask you to provide information about your personal, psychological, educational/occupational and medical history. I will also ask you to complete a number of forms and assessments, some of which you can work on at home between our appointments. I will ask you to identify someone in your life who knows you well (e.g. a spouse, significant other or parent) to share their perspective on your functioning through collateral interview and/or assessment forms. The purpose of gathering all of this information is to identify any developmental, psychological, or psychiatric disorders that could impact your current functioning, and to make recommendations regarding appropriate accommodations, interventions, or career and life planning. It is important to understand that having this evaluation will not guarantee that a diagnosis of a disability will be made.

If you would like to include a career assessment, we can do that as well.

After I have scored all of the assessments and reviewed all of the data, you will receive both verbal and written feedback regarding the evaluation results. You will receive a comprehensive report that can be used as documentation for school or work; or can be used in your consultations with other professionals such as physicians/psychiatrists.

The assessment process takes approximately 2 four-hour sessions for most people. Some clients do need a third session to complete all the testing. After the testing is complete, I begin the scoring and interpretation process, which takes several hours, along with the report writing.

Ministerial Assessment

Through years of consultation with Emory Clergy Care and the North Georgia Conference of the Methodist Church, and through specialized Ministerial Assessment training, I am a ministerial assessment specialist for several denominations. If your church leadership, Board of Ordained Ministry, or conference has asked you to undergo a psychological evaluation, contact me.

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is a slightly different experience for each client. It varies depending on the personalities of the psychologist and patient, and the particular problems you would like to work on. In general, I use a holistic approach that derives from both interpersonal and cognitive-behavioral perspectives. We will explore the nature of your difficulty, discuss its history, and work on solutions. Some of these solutions will likely require you to practice some new skills. My goal is to help you arrive at a balanced, healthy level of interpersonal, emotional and psychological functioning.

Our first few sessions will involve an evaluation of your needs. By the end of the evaluation, I will be able to offer you some first impressions of what our work will include and a treatment plan to follow, if you decide to continue with therapy. You should evaluate this information along with your own opinions of whether you feel comfortable working with me.

Career Assessment and Counseling

People seek career counseling for all types of reasons and at all stages of their career development or path. Sometimes, they are nearing the end of one stage (such as high school or college) and need a clearer sense of how to navigate the transition to the next step. Or they need some help with the decision making process. Other times, people already have a job, but want to make a change and need some help finding the right career direction. Career assessment and counseling can teach you a lot about yourself, guide you in sorting through your options, and help you find a better fit moving forward.