Assessing Children in the Urban Community

This is an incredibly moving and useful book that illustrates the use of Collaborative/Therapeutic Assessment with traumatized and abandoned children and their caregivers. The empathy and cultural sensitivity of the authors is breathtaking, and I often had tears in my eyes as I read about their courageous work with these under-served clients. A must-read resource for anyone interested in Therapeutic Assessment.”—Stephen E. Finn, PhD, Founder, Center for Therapeutic Assessment, Austin, Texas

Assessing Children in Urban Environments is groundbreaking work, addressing an extraordinary model of psychological assessment and treatment for the forgotten children of trauma, poverty and social injustice. Integrating the best of Therapeutic Assessment, community psychology, and psychodynamic practice, the courageous work of the WestCoast Children’s Clinic comes alive. In the process their work humanizes us—increasing our compassion about these children's destiny and understanding how assessment can help break the bondage of their fate.—F. Barton Evans, PhD, Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, George Washington University School of Medicine.

At last, a book that brings psychological assessment up to date! In bringing “collaborative” and “therapeutic” together, the authors transcend the detached, standardized, overly knowing stance of the traditional assessor. All of this in a multi-cultural framework, doing justice to the way the interaction with the person assessed is reflected in the results of the assessment. This trailblazing book is indispensable to relationally minded clinicians who want their work to be socially relevant.—Neil Altman, PhD, William Alanson White Institute.