1. Do’s & Don’ts of Assessing Youth: How to build rapport
Natalie Thomas, lisw, licdc

2. Assessment goal(s) To evaluate someone’s behavior
To make an estimation about someone’s ability
To develop a recommendation
To identify needs
To direct resources
To determine next steps

3. Administering assessments
Technique
Experience
Art

4. Assessment technique: Motivational Interviewing (MI)
Conceived by William R. Miller, Ph.D. and Stephen Rollnick, Ph.D. in 1983
Goal oriented & client-centered communication method on engaging intrinsic motivation and resolving ambivalence
Use when youth are hesitant
Take non-directive approach
Ask open ended questions:
“tell me…”
“help me understand…”
“on one hand, you would really like to get your life together, on the other hand, you keep breaking rules…”
Partnership, compassion, and acceptance

5. Trauma informed considerations
Trauma history may impact youth presentation (angry, sad, irritable, poor concentration, anxiety)
Assessments may be triggering for some youth
Pause or discontinue assessment if youth is unable to cope with process

6. Assessment Do’s & Don’ts
Strengths based assessments
Consider trauma impact on youth presentation and response
Affirm youth’s strengths
Assess an intoxicated youth
Leave triggered youth without follow up support
Empower nonproductive behavior

7. Do’s & Don’ts contd. Do’s Don’ts Purposefully set a good tone
Consider trauma history
Check-in on youth throughout assessment
Allow for youth to have a sense of control
Establish rapport
Assume youth understand why they are being assessed
Assess intoxicated youth
Use outdated information in assessments

8. Rapport /raˈpôr,rəˈpôr/ noun
A friendly , harmonious relationship; especially; a relationship characterized by agreement, mutual understanding, or empathy that makes communication possible or easy

9. Establishing rapport Mutual Understanding Empathy Agreement
Why we are here?
What’s our end goal?
How long should it take?
What’s going to happen next?
Let’s agree to get through this safely
Let’s agree to get through this respectfully
Let’s agree to get through this efficiently
Let’s agree to get through this honestly
Acknowledge their feelings & experience of the moment
Offer statement of support
Sometimes a self check is needed before we can offer empathy

10. Rapport building Do’s & Don’ts
Be genuine
Find something relatable
music, style, food, sports
Roll with resistance
Do a self check before engaging youth
Be aware of self, even if cant change status
Listen, sincerely
Engage in power struggles; you are in control
Assume restlessness is equal to disinterest or non-compliance (self regulation, adolescent brain)
Be afraid to move forward with imperfect rapport

11. Reality of Rapport building: Scrubs https://www. youtube. com/watch

12. Managing resistance
Resistance is a likely part of the youth assessment process
Resistance is often related to youth discomfort or stress
Establish how to deal with assessment stress or discomfort in rapport building phase, plan for it- how should youth cue you when uncomfortable? how will you respond?
Resistance should be managed in a positive, non-punitive manner
Lack of interest/readiness to change often mistaken for resistance
Ignore some unproductive behaviors (attitude, sly comments)
Manage your own stress response to resistance

13. Rapport building role play
2 Brave volunteers needed!

14. Resources
Suarez, Mariann; Naar-King, Sylvie, (2011) Motivational Interviewing with Adolescents and Young Adults, New York & London: The Guilford Press
National Child Traumatic Stress Network:

15. Q & A’s