Open help menu
Live Webinar
The Danger of Misdiagnosis: Utilizing Neuropsychological Assessment to Improve Treatment Plans Through Careful Diagnoses

The Danger of Misdiagnosis: Utilizing Neuropsychological Assessment to Improve Treatment Plans Through Careful Diagnoses: Part 1

|

Information

Date & Time

Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to:

  • Identify a potentially misdiagnosed client, with an emphasis on commonly overlooked and high-stakes details and differentiators

  • Effectively and critically evaluate neuropsychological assessments and assessment data.

Educational Goal

The educational goal of this presentation is for participants to learn how to effectively and critically evaluate neuropsychological assessments and assessment data to determine an accurate working diagnoses. This includes not just better understanding the data presented, but importantly, identifying what may be missing.

Description

This 90-minute webinar will help clinicians better recognize when a client may be misdiagnosed, highlighting commonly overlooked, but critical details. Participants will also develop skills in evaluating neuropsychological assessments and data, with attention to both the information provided and what may be missing, to strengthen diagnostic accuracy.

Target Audience

  • Addiction Professional
  • Counselor
  • Marriage & Family Therapist
  • Psychologist
  • Social Worker

Presenters

Joshua Cluff, PsyD in Clinical Psychology Dr. Cluff earned a bachelor’s degree from The Evergreen State College with an emphasis on Trauma Studies and Multicultural Counseling, followed by master’s and doctoral degrees in Clinical Psychology from John F. Kennedy University. His clinical experience spans a wide range of populations, including adolescent survivors of sexual and emotional abuse, inner-city youth, at-risk adolescents and their families, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth and adults, adult perpetrators with developmental disorders, adults in community mental health, and university-aged students, faculty, and their families. Passionate about crisis intervention, Dr. Cluff spent nineteen months as both a phone-based crisis counselor and a clinical member of the Berkeley Mobile Crisis Team, providing field-based and on-site crisis response, assessment, de-escalation, and mediation for the City of Berkeley, California. He completed a pre-doctoral internship with the American Psychological Association (APA) accredited Counseling and Psychological Services at Oregon State University, offering psychotherapy and outreach to students, faculty, and their dependents. He also worked in a private community counseling center serving adults, adolescents, and families. After many years in the field prior to graduate school, Dr. Cluff returned to wilderness therapy in 2007, providing individual, group, and family therapy for adolescent and young adult clients before starting ClearView Psychological Services in 2009. While maintaining his assessment practice, he served as clinical director of a therapeutic boarding school treating adolescent boys with mild autism, nonverbal learning disorder, and other social pragmatic communication disorders. In 2015, ClearView adopted our unique team-based model of assessment and with a remarkably diverse and dynamic team of psychologists. Dr. Cluff’s goal has been to place the best-matched psychologist in the lead role for each client, with an entire team supporting them and drawing on one another’s knowledge and insight. He remains confident that this model provides an unmatched degree of care and due diligence.
Dr. Julia Brown is finalizing her postdoctoral residency with ClearView Psychological Services, where she provides comprehensive psychological assessments for adolescents and adults across the country. Her career has spanned community mental health, residential treatment, university counseling, and specialized work with first responders, experiences that have shaped her understanding of both resilience and the many ways people struggle to be seen and understood. Dr. Brown is passionate about the art and science of psychological evaluation. She values the process of conceptualization and accurate diagnosis not only as clinical tools, but as a way of honoring people’s stories and giving language to what they’ve carried. She brings together cognitive, academic, personality, and family data to create a fuller picture of each client, helping them and their families understand both the challenges and the strengths that shape their journey. At the core of her work is a commitment to empathy. Assessment is more than data and numbers, it is a chance to sit with people in their vulnerability, provide clarity in moments of confusion, and guide them toward hope and possibility. She believes that when individuals feel truly understood, the path toward healing and meaningful change becomes more possible.

Financially Sponsored By

  • Clearview Psychological Services