My practicum is currently at CHKD in the behavioral health department. My primary responsibility is to facilitate mental health assessments for suicidal and homicidal patients. The intervention process is based on an interdisciplinary approach that involve the hospital physicians. The purpose of the assessment is to determine whether the patient is a safety risk to his/her self or others. In this particular situation my colleague and I recommended inpatient psychiatric treatment because the patient was a safety risk to herself. Nevertheless, although the patient was agreeable to treatment the patient’s family disagreed with the prescribed recommendation, which hindered the intervention process. After extensively explaining our position for
