Learn how to develop a rigorous, clinically defensible approach to personality and behaviour function assessment, grounded equally in theory and applied skill.

 

You'll start by building a theoretical foundation: articulating major personality frameworks and their empirical support, evaluating the psychometric properties of standardized instruments such as the PAI, MCMI, and BDI-2, and distinguishing appropriate from inappropriate applications of these tools across diverse clinical populations. The course also asks you to engage critically with assessment theory from diverse cultural perspectives and to articulate the principles of trauma-informed practice — skills that shape every decision that follows.

 

From there, you'll move into the administration and interpretation of assessment tools, learning to select instruments based on referral questions and client characteristics, administer and score according to standardized protocols, and identify the limitations of specific tools so you can justify your methodology for a given case. A strong focus is placed on synthesizing data from multiple sources, including clinical interviews, behavioural observation, standardized testing, collateral reports, and document review, into coherent clinical hypotheses.

 

The course closes by developing your written and oral communication skills: composing comprehensive assessment reports that integrate your findings into specific, actionable recommendations, formatting professional and ethically sound documentation, and translating technical findings into language your intended audience can actually use.