Reported client-practitioner conversations as assessment in mental health practitioners' talk

The aim of the study is to show how reported client-practitioner conversations function as assessments. The setting of the study is a rehabilitation course targeted at young adults. The data consist of informal backstage meetings among the practitioners, which do not have an officially stated or recognized task of assessment making. However, the study demonstrates that the meeting talk is rich in reported client-practitioner conversations with a dimension of assessment. The located assessment functions of reported conversations and the accompanied meeting talk are (i) making negative and positive portraits of clients; (ii) treating clients' voices as self-evaluative and influential; and (iii) presenting practitioners' own past talk as problematic and creating self-advice for future conversations. By making reported conversations visible as everyday assessment practices, the article challenges the one-sided view of assessment as a separate and formal professional practice, which is conducted with standardized tools such as psychological and social ability tests.