What is an assessment?
The word “assessment” may mean different things, depending on your needs. An informal assessment, usually undertaken when one begins to see a therapist, involves a conversation between you and the therapist about your background and your goals of therapy. These meetings do not always involve diagnosis, and some therapists are not included in the range of health professionals who can offer a formal diagnosis.
A formal assessment, as offered by Dr. Power, differs from an informal assessment in several ways. A formal assessment is usually recommended by your medical practitioner, school or insurance company. A formal assessment involves an interview as well as testing. Further, the results of the assessment (and recommendations for intervention) are presented in a detailed written report and, depending on the referral source, may involve a feedback session.
What do I need for a virtual assessment?
For a comprehensive psychological assessment, you will need a laptop/desktop computer or tablet computer with a working camera, as well as a stable internet connection. A neuropsychological assessment requires you to have access to a laptop/desktop computer with cameras. Most public libraries are able to provide access to computing devices and private rooms. Please ensure availability by booking access ahead of the scheduled assessment time. Some blank paper and a pen or pencil is also useful to have on hand.
What can I expect from an assessment?
A background questionnaire and consent form are sent via email link prior to the appointment. This enables details to be gathered without extending the assessment appointment time.
On the date of the appointment, the session will begin with an interview with Dr. Power and an opportunity to get to know her. If the assessment is virtual, the interview can be done via cell phone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer with a working camera, microphone and an internet connection.
The interview takes approximately 1-2 hours.
The second part of the assessment involves the administration of psychometric tests and/or neuropsychological skills tests (or puzzles). If these are administered virtually, you may be proctored via a second device to ensure there are no issues in completing the testing.
The testing portion can be quite lengthy, ranging from 2-4 hours depending on the assessment focus.
This is for a legal dispute, will I need to be “on guard”?
Despite the fact that your involvement with Empowerment Health is for assessment and not treatment, we desire to empower the individual. Our goal is to make the process as comfortable as possible. We work to ensure that the examinee feels understood and is able to provide his/her/their best performance on testing. Examinees can expect to be asked to participate in the assessment, and contribute to the outcome through the interview, testing and feedback sessions (where appropriate).
Do you bill directly to insurance companies?
Self-referrals for assessment are the responsibility of the individual. Empowerment Health does not directly bill to insurance companies unless the referral and payment is arranged through an agency prior to the assessment. We accept payment in the forms of major credit cards or e-transfer. The fees are due after the feedback session and before the final report is delivered.
What if I miss my appointment?
If you have booked the assessment yourself, we require at least 24 hours notice of appointment cancellations. A missed appointment fee of 50% will be applied to missed appointments/late cancellations with less than 24 hours notice.
If an agency has arranged for the assessment, we are not at liberty to cancel the assessment without first being informed of the cancellation from the agency. If you wish to cancel, please contact your case manager.
Sessions will be cancelled if the examinee is more than 20 minutes late, and a cancellation fee will be applied.
Storms: We will NOT apply our late notice rules to in-person appointments in the event of storms in your area or in Truro. Please do not feel the need to keep your appointment should the driving conditions be poor. Please notify us or your case manager of your decision about the weather and you will be contacted to rebook.