As a clinical social worker, you are expected to have some basic knowledge of medical conditions. It is important to be aware of medical disorders that can impact or present as psychological disorders. This comes as a surprise to some of our customers preparing for their ASWB social work exams who often see this as being outside of their scope of practice. While we should never make medical diagnoses or recommendations, we do want to make sure we know when to refer clients back to a physician for further evaluation. Ruling Out Medical Conditions Why is it so important to rule out underlying

Throughout your career as a Marriage and Family Therapist, there will be times when you are required to work with clients who are experiencing crises. In these situations, you will need to know how to manage their safety (and the public’s safety) by determining exactly which crisis interventions are most appropriate. The Board of Behavioral Services (BBS), whose mission is to, “Protect and serve Californians by setting, communicating, and enforcing standards for safe and competent mental health practice,” will test your knowledge of and ability to utilize crisis interventions. Let’s take a

As we prepare to take the masters and clinical ASWB social work exams, many of us lack experience working with court mandated clients. It is possible you could see a question (or a few questions!) on working with this client population. Regardless of your experience in this area, we want you to be ready! In our ASWB Masters and Clinical Exam Preparation, we offer practice questions around this topic to ensure readiness. Today we’ll review some considerations when working with court mandated clients. We'll wrap things up with a FREE LCSW (also applicable to LMSW!) practice question. What is

According to statistics obtained through the Department of Veterans Affairs, ”About 6 of every 10 men (or 60%) and 5 of every 10 women (or 50%) experience at least one trauma in their lives.” Not every person who experiences a traumatic event will develop symptoms linked to a trauma-related disorder. However, the prevalence of PTSD and Acute Stress Disorder is high enough that you will likely encounter it in your clinical practice. You are also guaranteed to see this topic tested in a variety of ways on your MFT Clinical licensing exam. How could trauma-related disorders appear on your MFT

If you think the questions on your licensing exam were tough, wait until the first time your client asks you a question that will force you to pause before answering. There are many difficult questions your clients will ask from your relationship status to your weekend plans. Prepare to be caught off guard or surprised by what they ask. Your boundaries will be pushed, so be aware of tough questions that will come your way in your clinical practice. Avoid being defensive when asked these questions because your client is opening up to you, and often they don’t know what’s okay versus not okay to

No matter what setting we are in, termination is a part of our work with clients. Whether we see a client for 1 session or for several years, the ultimate goal should be getting a client to a place where they meet their identified goals and termination occurs. Your ASWB licensure exams (whether LMSW or LCSW) are likely to have at least a couple questions surrounding termination issues. Today we’ll discuss some key points on termination, how this could show up on your social work exams, and will wrap things up with a practice question. When is a client ready to terminate? How do you know if a

If you are preparing for the California MFT Clinical Exam or the National MFT exam, a topic that could very well be tested on your exam is personality disorders. We constantly hear people casually labeling others as narcissistic, borderline, or antisocial, to name a few. However, when working as a mental health professional, these personality disorders have specific criteria we must be familiar with before considering this cluster of diagnoses. So what are the distinguishing features of personality disorders? Personality disorders are: Generally egosyntonic Characterized by unhealthy and rigid

Have you ever wondered if your clinical skills were getting stale? Maybe you have the feeling that you need to add to your clinical toolbox, or while working with a client, you realized that you needed a different approach. Regardless if your a new clinician or have years of experience, there is a need to keep your clinical skills fresh. You’re responsible for delivering the best service possible for your client, and if it’s been a while since you worked on your skills, it’s time to learn something new. Here are five ways to refresh your clinical skills. 1) Attend a free webinar We are in a

I don’t know about all of you out there, but until I interned on an acute inpatient psychiatric unit, I really had no idea what a person experiencing psychosis really looked like (clinically speaking). This category of disorders, distinguished by the primary symptoms of delusions, prominent hallucinations, disorganized speech, or disorganized or catatonic behavior, is bound to come up on the MFT exam in a variety of ways. Here’s just one: