What happens at your assessment?

What happens at your appointment

We offer a needs-led assessment.

A needs-led assessment includes finding out about your strengths, difficulties and differences.

It also includes finding out about what is working well in your life and what is not working well.

Learning more about these things helps us to understand you, your needs and any support that might be helpful.

It also helps us to think about the needs of the people around you and any support that they may find helpful. 

Your first appointment: 

• Is usually with you and your parent or carer
• This is a face-to-face appointment

Please tell us if you need us to do anything differently to help you meet with us, talk to us and feel more comfortable, for example: 

• If you would prefer side lighting to overhead lights
• If you or your parent or carer need to stop or take a break during appointments, just let us know

It is an opportunity for us to: 

• tell you about our team and how we work
• learn more about why you've come to see our service
• get to know more about you and your family 
• learn more about your hopes and dreams for the future
• hear, from you, about what is going well and what is more difficult
• hear, from your parent / carer, about what is going well and what is more difficult
• give you a chance to ask any questions 

After your first appointment we will think together about what we need to do next

If further appointments are needed:

These could include: 

• you meeting with us again 
• your parents / carers meeting with us again

We may also:

• talk to people that know you well now or have known you well in the past.  For example, a teacher, social worker or mental health worker
• ask you, or someone that knows you well, to fill out some questionnaires. These are forms to find out more about you
• visit your school or college
• visit you at home 

Our assessments do not include any x-rays, scans or blood tests

How long will the assessment take?

• because everyone's needs are different, the length of the assessment can be different
• this means your assessment may take more time, or less time, than another young person's (there is not a set number of appointments).

• during your assessment we will try to share our thinking about what we have learnt and how this helps us to understand your needs
• throughout your assessment we will talk to you or your parent or carer about what will happen next

When we have a good understanding of your strengths, difficulties and differences 

We are then able to:

• meet with you, and your parent or carer, to talk about your assessment, how we understand your needs.
• If you have needs that are not being met, we can make recommendations, these are things that we think could be helpful
• we will also send you a letter which includes the same information.
• we send you an extra copy of your letter so you can share this if you want to for example, with your school or college.  We always send a copy of your letter to your GP.

• sometimes we think a referral to another service would be helpful. If you and / or your parent or carer agree we will either make the referral for you, or let you know what you need to do.