Counseling Services for a Client at a CMHC

The client is a 31-year-old female referred by her managed care company for depression, insomnia, and nightmares. The client is employed full-time, but reports loss of interest in work, feeling like she is losing her mind, difficulty concentrating, and delusions about heaven. She reports a history of sexual abuse by an uncle and an attempt at suicide that led to hospitalization at the age of 14. She has a strong history of street drugs, but has been drug-free since 2004 and currently attends a church support group for people in recovery. She suspects that the precipitant of the current wave of depression is dysfunction at work and the fact that her boss is promoting a closeness that she feels is incestuous. She is currently on Paxil, but has been erratic in taking the medication and keeping appointments. Based on the available information, this text identifies the tasks that might be carried out on the client when offering indirect care, direct care, crisis services, case management support, and prevention psycho-education.

Direct Care

Having carried out the clinical interview, the next task under direct care would be to carry out a mental status examination, which is a series of questions assessing behavior and appearance. The mental status examination would assess the clients mood and affect, organization of thought processes, awareness about her surroundings, speech, memory, grooming, and body posture. The mental status exam covers areas not covered in the clinical interview and identifies areas to be investigated further (Washington State University Module, 2021).

Another task in direct care would be the administration of psychological tests and inventories to assess cognitive ability and social functioning, and thus, help in making the diagnosis. The client reports some classical symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, and it may thus be...…the treatment plan. The second task would be active engagement, which would involve accompanying the client to one or more of their church support group sessions. The third task would be to conduct follow-up with the clients PCP to obtain feedback and chart a way forward on the treatment plan based on the findings of the physical examination. The clinician will be continuously monitoring outcomes, troubleshooting, and modifying the plan whenever necessary (Pau et al., 2020).

Prevention Psycho-education

The primary task under prevention psycho-education would be to educate the client on their illness, the importance of adhering to the treatment plan, the expected adverse effects of their medication, and preventive measures. The patients family could be involved at this point and be empowered to understand and accept the illness and to help the client cope with it effectively (Bauml et al., 2006). The aim of psycho-education is to help the client cope…