Yes, Congruence Psychology requires clients to have a referral letter for cognitive assessments.

You can receive a referral from your General Practitioner (GP) or allied health professional (psychiatrist, psychologist, occupational therapist, etc).

Please ensure your referral includes:

• Your basic demographic information (i.e., name, DOB, sex, gender, pronouns, address, email, phone number and emergency contact information)

• The reason for the referral (e.g., ADHD diagnostic clarification)

• Current medication, diagnoses, and mobility/accessibility information)

All cognitive assessments involve four parts:

1. Comprehensive Intake Form

2. Intake Session (1 hour)

3. Cognitive Assessment Session (varies between 1-4 hours depending on the type of assessment)

4. Report and Feedback Session

The Intake Session is designed to help you determine which type of assessment is suitable for your query and needs.

An intake session (also called a clinical interview) is for your assessor to gather more information from you for the purposes of the assessment and report that will be written. This includes medical information, psychological history, family history, personal and social history, and other historical information, including information about your experiences from childhood to adulthood. It may include requesting information from informants (i.e., parents, spouses, or people closest to you) in order to obtain additional information from the perspective of people who know you best, or knew you as a child. This is an important part of the assessment process, especially if you are wishing to gain diagnostic clarification (e.g., determine if you meet criteria for ADHD or Autism) as symptoms for these must have been present from childhood. After the intake session, your assessor will help determine the appropriate type of assessment for you to complete in order to answer your query.

The assessment sessions very depending on your type of assessment, but range from a 2-4 session, inclusive of breaks. These assessments are usually scheduled in the first part of the day to reduce the likelihood of fatigue.

Assessment typically include questionnaires about your cognitive and intellectual abilities and mental health. They can include interview-style assessments, as well as “tests” to measure your thinking and cognitive skills (such as memory, processing speed, executive functioning, visual skills, language skills, sensory difficulties and social abilities).

Following your assessment, your assessor will undergo the scoring, interpretation, and report writing process to explain your assessment results. This will outline your cognitive results, your strengths and difficulties, and provide a diagnostic opinion of what the information and assessment has shown. These reports also include personalised recommendations for further management, intervention strategies and next steps. This may also include recommendations for follow up testing, or other specialist opinions.

These reports typically take between 3-6 weeks to complete, following the date of your assessment. This will be determined with your assessor on the day of your assessment, and you will be given a date that your report will be available from.

The feedback session is an opportunity to discuss the results with your assessor, where you can ask questions about the report and assessment results. This session is included in the cost of the assessment to ensure you have an opportunity to thoroughly understand the outcomes of your neuropsychological assessment.

The feedback session is scheduled approximately 4-6 following your assessment to give your assessor adequate time to complete your report and summarise the findings for you.

Your report will be emailed to you following your feedback session. Your report cannot be given to you prior to your feedback session to ensure you have been thoroughly debriefed regarding the results of your report.

If you having completed a cognitive assessment for diagnostic clarification purposes (e.g., to determine if you meet criteria for ADHD or Autism), then you will be recommended to consult with a psychiatrist to discuss these diagnoses and future treatment options.