What to Send a Clinician Before the Evaluation: A Practical Guide for Immigration Attorneys
The quality of a psychosocial evaluation is directly tied to how well the clinician is prepared before the first session. Here is exactly what helps.
I receive referrals every week from immigration attorneys who are thorough, diligent, and deeply committed to their clients. And I also receive referrals that arrive with almost nothing attached. A name. A case type. Sometimes a deadline.
I understand why. Attorneys are managing multiple cases, multiple deadlines, and clients who are often difficult to reach. Sending a comprehensive packet to a clinician can feel like one more task on an already full plate.
But here is what I want every attorney I work with to understand: the more I know before I sit down with your client, the stronger the report I can write for their case.
This is not about making my job easier. It is about making your case stronger.
Why preparation matters
A psychosocial evaluation is not a form I fill out during an interview. It is a clinical document that weaves together your client's history, their psychological presentation, their trauma, their relationships, and the impact of their circumstances into a coherent narrative that serves a legal purpose.
To write that document well, I need context. I need to understand what the case is asking me to establish. I need to know what is already in the record and what gaps the evaluation needs to fill. I need to have read enough of your client's story before I meet them that I am not starting from zero in the session.
When I have that context, I can ask better questions. I can listen more precisely. I can catch the details that matter and make sure they land in the report the way they need to.
When context arrives in advance, the session goes deeper. I can move past the foundational questions more quickly and spend more time exploring the nuances that make a report compelling. The difference shows in the final document.
What to send before the evaluation
Here is what I ask for with every referral. Not all of these will exist for every case. Send what you have.
A brief case summary. Two or three paragraphs telling me who your client is, what type of evaluation you need, what the legal standard is, and what you are most hoping the evaluation will establish. You do not need to write a memo. A few sentences in an email is enough. This single step changes everything.
The relevant immigration petition or application. If the I-130, I-360, or asylum application has been filed, send it. I want to understand what has already been stated on the record before I speak with your client.
Any prior declarations or statements. If your client has written a declaration or given a statement about their experiences, I want to read it before the session. It helps me understand how they have framed their own story and where I might need to probe more deeply.
Supporting documents related to the legal claim. For Extreme Hardship cases, any evidence of the qualifying relative's ties to the US, medical conditions, financial situation, or dependent children. For VAWA, T-Visa, or U-Visa cases, any police reports, protective orders, medical records, or other documentation of the harm experienced.
Country condition reports if available. For asylum cases, any country condition evidence you have already gathered is helpful context for understanding what your client fled and what they fear returning to.
Prior mental health records if the client has them. Not required and not always available, but if your client has seen a therapist, psychiatrist, or counselor and has records, those can be valuable. I will make my own independent clinical findings regardless, but prior records give me useful context.
Your deadline. Tell me when the report is needed, when the filing deadline is, and whether there are any court dates or hearings I should know about. I build my schedule around your timeline, but I can only do that if I know what it is.
What I do not need
You do not need to send me everything in the file. You do not need to brief me on the full legal theory of the case or walk me through every piece of evidence. You do not need to coach your client on what to say. In fact, please do not coach your client on what to say. My evaluation is most credible when I hear your client's story in their own words, in response to my questions, without a script.
What I need is enough context to walk into that session knowing what I am trying to understand. The rest is my job.
A note on timing
Send what you have when you make the referral. Do not wait until everything is organized. If you only have the case summary and the application, send those. Additional documents can follow. What matters is that I have something to read before the evaluation session, not that I have everything at once.
Ready to refer a client?
You can submit a referral and learn more about how ILORA works with immigration attorneys at ilorallc.com. If you have questions about a specific case before submitting, book a free 30-minute consultation and we can talk through it together.
Dr. Perpetue K. Augustin, DSW, LCSW, FL LCSW-QS
Founder, ILORA, LLC
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