Why an assessment?
At PsychOnline4u we are committed to providing a professional service. So, before offering you therapy, we always carry out a standard Assessment, in the form of a brief screening. The purpose of this initial screening is to identify the nature of the mental health problems you are experiencing, and the extent to which these are hampering you in your daily functioning. The results of this standard assessment also give us a fairly good idea about which of our therapies would most likely be the best way of helping you tackle your particular problems.
So, what does our standard assessment look like?
Well, first, we will send you several standard questionnaires which are often used by mental health professionals to carry out a screening of a person’s mental health problems.
Next, we will give you an appointment for a video conference (lasting no more than 30 minutes), in which we will go through these questionnaires with you. Then, during a second video conference (lasting no more than 15 minutes) we will discuss with you both the results of the assessment, and the specific guided CBT-programme that we recommend. The all-in fee for this assessment is €50.
Of course, you are not obliged to agree to this standard assessment. However, if you decline, we will not be in a position to offer you our service. In that case we will advise you to consult with your GP about seeking professional support for your mental health problems.
Extended Asssessment (if need be)
In the event that the results of our initial assessment suggest that the mental health problem(s) you are experiencing are complex and/or severe, then we will offer you a second, more extensive clinical assessment, online (lasting approximately 30-45 minutes). The purpose of this extended assessment is twofold: (a) to identify more precisely the exact nature, and level of severity, of your mental health problems, and (b) to enable us to determine whether or not online therapy would indeed be an adequate way of helping you tackle your particular mental health problem(s). That’s why we sometimes advise this more extensive assessment: it’s our way of ensuring good care!
The results of this extended assessment will be discussed with you during a subsequent video conference (lasting no more than 15 minutes). And, once again, you are not obliged to agree to this extended assessment. However, if you decline, we will not be in a position to offer you our service,. In that case, we will advise you to consult with your GP about seeking professional support for your mental health problems. The all-in fee for this second, more extended assessment, is €50,-.
There is convincing evidence from psychological research that online therapy, such as CBT, PET and EMDR, can be effective in treating anxiety, trauma and depression. However, some people struggle with severe forms of these problems. In those cases, online therapy will not be adequate in addressing their mental health needs. More intensive forms of treatment will be required.
That’s why we, at Psychonline4u, first do an initial assessment to identify both the nature and severity of a person’s mental health problems. That way, we can decide whether online therapy would be sufficient, or whether more intensive treatment is required.
If our assessment indicates the latter, then we will, of course, discuss this with you and advise you to seek more intensive treatment. And we will do this, as much as possible, in close cooperation with your GP. This is explained in our Terms and Conditions.
So, if either our initial, or extended, assessment indicates that your mental health problems require more specialist and intensive treatment rather than online therapy, where does that leave you? Well, we will of course discuss this with you. We will also do our best to advise you about what kind of treatment we believe would be appropriate for your particular problems.
Furthermore, we will offer to report our conclusions to your GP, as well as our recommendation that you be referred to an appropriate service for adequate treatment of your mental health problems. But, we will do this only if you give us permission to do so by, and only after you confirmed your consent to this on our Contact form.
Also, regardless of whether or not you are going to receive therapy from PsychOnline4u, we will send you a brief assessment report, containing a summary of our conclusions and recommendations, and a statement about what has been agreed.
Finally, in the event that either our initial, or extended, assessment indicates that our online therapy would indeed be an adequate way of helping you tackle your particular mental health problem(s), then we will, of course, offer you one of our online therapies. If you accept, we will give you an estimate of the number of the sessions we believe you should initially book, in order to get your self-help programme up and running. But, of course, you will have the final say on that.
We will then mail you a request for payment, based on the number of sessions that you initially wish to book. Once your payment has come through, we will send you confirmation of this, together with a proposal for dates and times. You will also receive an invoice for all payments made. For more information about this, please see the file tabs Appointments and Fees & Payment Details, both under the button General Information.
Any questions?
We hope you’ve found the information about our assessment clear and helpful. However, if you have any queries about the above, please feel free to contact us, by using the contact form.
