Moving Beyond Assessment: A Practical Guide For Beginning Helping Professionals, Second Edition

Moving beyond assessment: A practical guide for beginning helping professionals, 2nd ed. is designed to help new clinicians, from social work, psychology, counseling, nursing, and other related disciplines navigate the early stages of working with clients in a variety of settings. In a user-friendly tone, the text addresses issues such as how to start working with clients in a helping role, how to develop a practice that is informed by ethical principles and a social justice framework, the importance of self-care and supervision, and many other essential topics for new practitioners. The authors are experienced clinicians, educators, and supervisors who have trained hundreds of graduate students to learn how to assess, intervene, and evaluate their work with clients. Within the text are numerous examples of working directly with clients in diverse contexts and settings from their own personal and professional experiences to demonstrate how the content from the text can be applied to a multitude of practice settings. Beginning practitioners will find tips, tools, resources, and concrete examples they can use to enhance their work with clients, while simultaneously normalising their experiences and feelings as a new practitioner and developing skills to prevent burnout and build resilience in the field. Moving Beyond Assessment is an essential guide for anyone seeking to become a helping professional.

Melissa D. Grady, PhD, LICSW, LCSW, LCSW-C is a Professor of social work at The Catholic University of America's National Catholic School of Social Service where she teaches courses on clinical theory and practice, human behavior, and research. Her research areas focus on sexual violence prevention and intervention and on infusing the evidence-based practice process into clinical practice. In addition, she has been an active clinician for almost 30 years. Along with her academic position, she maintains a clinical practice where she sees clients for a variety of mental health issues, including trauma, depression, anxiety, and relationship challenges.

Eileen A. Dombo, PhD, LICSW, is a clinical social worker and educator providing trauma treatment since 1996. She has delivered trainings on individual, couples, and group treatment for trauma survivors, vicarious trauma for providers, and trauma-informed services for organizations. Dr. Dombo is an Associate Professor, Assistant Dean, and Chair of the PhD Program at The Catholic University of America. She practices as an Independent Clinical Social Worker in Washington, D.C. Awards include recognition as a “Top Therapist” by Washingtonian Magazine and Social Worker of the Year by the National Association of Social Workers.