Vignette 4 - Introduction to a Mental Health Assessment

This is a vignette designed to train health care professionals. The clinician in the video uses both helpful and non-helpful interventions. The learner is encouraged to identify which interventions are helpful and which are not.

View the full project at: http://pedicases.org/interviewing/intro.html

Vignette description: Shawn is a 16 year old boy who has come to an outpatient clinic for a mental health assessment. As with many, if not most adolescent boys, the appointment is not his idea and he is not happy to be at the clinic. The provider must use a technique to engage him in a way that helps him feel that it was worth his while to come. He must help the patient get beyond his closed off presentation and help the boy talk about himself.