This week's lecture covered various assessment tools and levels of treatment for working with individuals with substance use disorder and co-occurring mental health disorders. For your reflection this week, imagine you are working as an assistant in a behavioral health office. A patient with a suspected substance use disorder presents for treatment. Given what you have learned from lecture, provided videos, and supplemental readings from your instructor, answer the following questions/prompts:

• Identify the skills and communication strategies you believe it is necessary for a clinician to show in conducting an assessment interview. Explain how you would ensure you are making use of these skills and strategies in your own assessment interviews.
• Select the questions and/or scales you would use in your assessment of the patient. Why would you use these specific questions or scales?
• Detail how you might respond if a client presented as guarded, hesitant, intoxicated and/or unwilling to respond to assessment questions.
• Finally, justify how you would make sure you are selecting the proper treatment option for your client.