A BPSS is the most common tool that social workers use to organize information that you have gathered about
your client which ultimately will lead to your conceptualization (or clinical formulation) of why you think your
client is experiencing a particular problem at a particular moment in time. This descriiptive information and
conceptualization are essential for developing an appropriate treatment plan. Most agencies that you work at
will require some version of a BPSS; some will be very brief, and others will require a longer, more narrative
format. Because we are approaching this as both an academic exercise as well as a clinical intervention,
citations are required (minimum of 6). As social workers, the focus of the information we gather should always
be strengths-based and rooted in our understanding of how micro, mezzo, and macro factors influence our
clients’ functioning.
Write a brief BioPsychoSocialSpiritual assessment, keeping in mind the information you gathered in your
Ecoscan. The paper is divided into sections to help you organize your thinking about how the BPSS and
Ecoscan are integrated. Please use headings when writing your assignment.
Part I: Ecoscan (Mezzo and Macro considerations)
Begin by walking* or driving* around the neighborhood/community where your client lives and where your
agency is located: ****61 Industrial Park Rd., Plymouth, MA 02360
What do you observe? (If your client does not live in the community where your agency is
located, you may study either community or both communities.) * Please note COVID19 safety conditions
Questions to think about as you explore the environment:
● What is the physical appearance, noise level, and density of the neighborhood?
● How might your client experience themselves in the context of this community? For example, might
your client feel a sense of belonging or a sense of being an outsider?
● What is your experience of walking* or driving* around this neighborhood?
Answer the following questions that are specifically relevant to your client making sure to appropriately cite the
resources that you used to gather the information.
● What is the ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic makeup of the community in which you are placed?
● What is the fiscal budget for public education in this area? How does it compare to budgets of other
areas?
● What are the concerns, if any, relative to environmental justice in this community?
● If a client has a medical need, where is the closest health center / hospital? Is this health center / hospital
accessible? Does it offer culturally and linguistically appropriate services?
● If a client has a housing and/or food related need, what services are available and accessible? How far
would a client need to travel to access fresh food?
● If a client needs to access childcare and/or elder care services, what is available and accessible?
(Begin by walking about the neighborhood / community where your client lives and where your agency is located; what do you observe?
What is the physical appearance, the noise level and density of the neighborhood?
How might your client experience themselves in the context of this community? For example, might your client feel a sense of belonging or a sense of being an outsider?
What is your experience of walking around this neighborhood?
In addition to actually walking through the neighborhood/community, these are a few online tools that can enhance your experience and understand the area, and the neighborhoods that you are familiar with in your own life.
Google Street View
Search for your neighborhood or agency, switch to satellite view and then click & drag the orange person icon to a street. Virtually walk around your neighborhood on the day the Google car drove through.
Crowdsourced neighborhoods of Boston
A crowdsourced map of where people “feel” are the neighborhood boundaries in Boston. (You can participate and add your opinions too.)
Social Media
Curious to know what community members and others are saying about the neighborhood? Search for it on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Yelp, etc. This is not quantitative, but may enhance your impressions of the environment and community.
Crime Reports
This is how the BPD shares city crime statistics. Again, this may give some backstory and context to your observations or experiences.
Part II: BioPsychoSocialSpiritual (BPSS) Assessment
Introduction
● Agency and Student’s Role
● Identifying information of client system (consider client confidentiality)
● Age, sex/gender, race/ethnicity, relationship status, student/employment status, living situation,
environmental context (Please note to include any pertinent information you consider relevant to your
client system)
Presenting Problem
Focus on how the client and referring source define the problem
Current and Historical Information
History of the presenting problem, Family History, Social History, Medical History, Psychiatric History, History
of suicidality, Sexual History, Gender Identity Issues, Racial Identity, Trauma History, Substance Use, Legal
Involvement, Cultural Issues, Religion and Spirituality, Other?
Risk and Protective Factors
· Personal – strengths, adaptability, coping, interests
· Social – family, communities
· Financial, institutional, housing, environmental
Clinical Formulation
Write a formulation/case conceptualization based on the information that you gathered. This section is where
you take your descriiptive information and present your hypotheses. The formulation should involve your
creative thinking including your understanding/conceptualization, pulling all relevant data into an integrated,
cohesive statement including how the past affects the present, how the current behavior reflects both past and
present patterns of behavior, and how all the systems involved have affected the client’s current functioning.
· Include the following guidelines:
o Do not repeat information you have presented in earlier sections.
o Describe or hypothesize (written in the realm of possibility) why you think the problem is
occurring at this moment in time.
o Incorporate both a risk and strength perspective.
o Keep in mind that you should only be writing a case conceptualization that you are willing
to share with your client.
(Please note that not all the above data can or should be utilized in any singular formulation but only those
factors that are particularly relevant in your client’s situation. Clarity, succinctness, and integration of material
are the essential elements.)
Goodness of Fit Analysis:
Using your critical thinking skills, please reflect on how the information you gathered for the ecoscan
influenced the information you chose to include in your BPSS. Be sure to include references from your data
sources (environmental context) as well as readings to support your ideas.
· Questions to think about:
o Did walking around your client’s neighborhood influence your thinking about the etiology of
your client’s current challenges?
o What is the goodness of fit between the client’s needs and available resources, or lack thereof?
o Did the information that you gathered from various data sources raise any questions or
concerns for you regarding future intervention
The Client is: Shondra Evans
Gender: Female
Marital Status: Has been married for 3 years to her wife, Jordan, a cisgender White woman
Children: None
Employment: Currently employed as a full-time office manager at a tech firm (Hartman Design
Firm) that works with small companies to develop smartphone apps to pair with their products.
Education: College Degree – University of Miami, Ohio – Business Management
Race: African-American
Referred by: Wife (Jordan)
Background:
Growing up in a small town outside of Chicago, Shondra found a place of comfort and stability
as the oldest-sister of a blended family made up of her two step-brothers and her young
half-sister. Although born in the city, her mother, an office administrator, took her, at age 3, and
left her absentee father and a poor situation behind, eventually remarrying. Her step-father
worked at a nearby shipping facility and would come home late every night, leaving Shondra
and her mother to take care of the needs of the house and the family. In her youth, she was a
tremendous athlete and had dreams of returning to the big city as a person of great influence.
By by the time she was in high school, she was unsure if that life interested her anymore, as
she was getting comfortable and the idea of making a big change was giving her anxiety. She
stayed close to home for college, where she met and fell in love with Jordan, a woman with
aspirations and a plan to build a career for herself, Shondra began to realize that she might
have to someday leave home behind to support her partner. This became a reality when Jordan
was hired by a major non-profit in New York and given an opportunity to make an impact on the
world through her work. Shondra managed to hide her insecurity and has been nothing but
positive regarding the new life and new home, even aggressively pursuing and landing a job at
a company downtown. In the back of her mind, she hoped this would be a temporary thing that
they would try before “settling down” back home, but Jordan is thriving and being groomed by
upper management for a great future with this company. Shondra may soon have no way to get
back home.
Reason for referral: Client has scheduled the session at her wife’s insistence after she “found
me crying in the bathroom one morning. It was really early and it kinda surprised her. I think she
thought I was still in bed. I’ve been doing that for weeks. But never told her.”
