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Psychological Services – psychotherapy/interventions
Psychological interventions, including psychotherapy, are not easy to describe in a few
general
statements. Effective treatment depends upon the particular problems you may
be experiencing,
as well as personality factors and establishing a good therapist-client alliance. In an important
respect, psychotherapy is dissimilar to visiting a physician in that it calls for more active effort
on your part. For therapy to be most successful, you will have to work on the things we talk
about during the sessions and at home.
Psychological treatment includes potential for some risk as well as benefits. Since
therapy may
involve discussing unpleasant aspects of your life, you may experience
uncomfortable feelings
that may be temporarily discomforting. On the other hand,
psychological treatment has been
known to produce many benefits such as a reduction
in distress, solutions to specific problems,
and better relationships. There can be no
guarantees of what you will experience. The University
of Utah Educational
Assessment and Student Support Clinic attempts to minimize risks by
providing well-supervised and trained therapists and by conducting frequent evaluations of client
progress/status.
The first few sessions will involve an evaluation of your needs. By the end of this evaluation
period, your therapist will be able to offer you an initial impression of your needs and a plan for
what treatment might include, if you decide to continue with therapy. If you ever have any
questions about procedures, you should discuss them whenever they arise.
The University of Utah Educational Assessment and Student Support Clinic hours are by
arrangement. The clinic does not provide full-time telephone coverage during working hours,
and you may be asked to leave a message for the therapist. Your
therapist will make every effort
to return your call as soon as possible. If you are difficult to reach, please leave some times you
may be available or an alternative phone number which you can be reached. The clinic does not
provide emergency services (see
Emergency Care and Crisis Situations).
Psychological Services – psychological/neuropsychological/psychoeducational
evaluations.
Evaluations are designed to provide benefits such as an accurate description of client, cognitive,
intellectual and psychological strengths and weaknesses, treatment planning, school and
vocational planning. However, as with psychotherapy, evaluations include
potential risks as well
as benefits, as previously described. Evaluations may involve
several appointments of several
hours each, and generally consist of interviews with the client, administration of tests and/or
questionnaires, and, when indicated, interviews with school personnel, physicians or other
individuals who can provide helpful information to aid in the evaluation. Your written consent
will be necessary to authorize these contacts. Following the completion of the evaluation, a
session will be held with you and your clinician to discuss the results. Due to supervision
requirements, it may take several weeks for your clinician to produce a written report of the
evaluation. If a report must be written by a certain date, please discuss this with your
clinician well in advance. Every effort will be made to make sure that reports are written and
disseminated in a timely manner.