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In her introduction, Susan Lukas quotes her first supervisor's response when she asked “what he thought was the most essential feature of being a good beginning clinician.” His answer: “First of all… you gotta know your customer.” Lukas's book is a sensitive, thoughtful delineation of how a beginning clinician can get to know and assess her client/customer with the goal of an accurate diagnosis and conscientious treatment plan.
Lukas intimately connects the reader with the process of information-gathering by talking directly to “you,” rather than referring to “the therapist” or “the worker.” With that linguistic device, she places the reader-observing, feeling, thinking, and moving-at the center of the action. She discusses the most appropriate and effective ways and times to use “our” supervisors as well as the frustration of not always having access to them when desired and needed. She stresses the openmindedness that is required, empathizing with the wish to reach immediate conclusions.
So, for awhile you are going to feel a great deal of anxiety when you start an interview. You are going to be worrying about what you're supposed to do or say next, at the same time as you are trying to listen, look, think, pay attention to what you are feeling, and make some sense out of all of it. In short,
Page 67you are going to have to learn to tolerate the feeling of not knowing.
While having answers is highly prized, Lukas makes it clear that productive work in the assessment process comes from not knowing. This makes room for seeing and hearing the client's self presentation.
Lukas guides the reader through the process of careful and thorough observation and questioning. Along the way, she indicates the need to find a balance between obtaining information for an assessment and respecting the client's feelings and pace so that he does not feel intruded upon. Clear examples also highlight the danger of confusing what a client actually says and how he appears with what the interviewer