Comprehensive Behavioral Health Assessment

A Comprehensive behavioral health assessors can be licensed as follows: Psychiatric advanced registered nurse practitioner, Clinical social worker, Mental health counselor, Marriage and family therapist, Psychiatric clinical nurse specialist, Psychologist, Psychiatric physician’s assistant, Psychiatrist  and must have a minimum of two years of direct, full-time experience working with children and families who are victims of physical abuse, sexual abuse, or neglect; emotionally disturbed; or delinquent.

Comprehensive behavioral health assessors can be master’s level practitioners working under a licensed practitioner of the healing arts, who have all of the following:

• Master’s degree in the field of counseling, social work, psychology, rehabilitation, special education, or a human services field.

• Minimum of five years of full-time experience working directly with children and families who are victims of physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect; or youth who are emotionally disturbed and who have been determined to be delinquent by the Department of Juvenile Justice 

• Minimum of two years of experience working with foster parents.

• Minimum of 30 hours of documented training, dedicated to relevant child and family treatment issues, within the last two years.

Master’s level practitioners must complete child and adolescent needs and strengths (CANS) recertification and a minimum of 30 hours of training, relevant to child and family issues, every two years.

To be in compliance with the policy of DCF related to assessment of children in the legal custody of DCF, comprehensive behavioral health assessments completed by a nonlicensed person must be reviewed and co-signed by a licensed professional to verify the assessment is accurate and complete.