Therapeutic Assessment with Adolescents (TA-A) is a semi-structured form of collaborative assessment developed by Dr. Stephen Finn and influenced by the work of Connie Fischer and Len Handler (Finn, 2007; Fantini et al., 2022). Psychological testing is not only used for diagnosis, treatment planning, and outcome evaluation, but also as the centerpiece of a brief therapeutic intervention with adolescents and their families. TA-A is especially helpful at the adolescent stage of development, as teens are forming their identities for adulthood and developing their self-narratives (Tharinger et al., 2013). TA-A can be a ripe opportunity to help teens develop more accurate, compassionate narratives. Since it actively involves parents and caregivers, TA-A can help families make systemic changes and see their teens more accurately and compassionately as well. This presentation will give a brief introduction to the underlying theories and structure of TA-A. Participants will be exposed to the different steps that are part of the model and come to appreciate how to develop questions to be answered through testing, and how to explore test results to build insight. A clinical case will be used to illustrate the impact of TA-A. Participants will come to understand important points about the model and steps they can use to enhance their work with adolescents and their families.Learning Objectives
Identify the core values of Therapeutic Assessment.
Summarize the benefits of the Therapeutic Assessment-Adolescent (TA-A) model.
Outline the different steps in a TA-A.
Describe unique techniques used in TA-A.