Online TrainingBariatric Psychological Assessment Training Course
SELF-PACED · LIFETIME ACCESS
Everything You Need to Start Conducting Bariatric Psychological Assessments
A complete, practical training for licensed therapists who want to add a high-paying, flexible, telehealth-friendly niche to their practice, without spending years figuring it out from scratch.
Join hundreds of therapists who have already built a bariatric assessment practice with this training.
What Clients Are Saying
“I cannot say enough good things about this training. Before taking it, bariatric psychological assessments felt intimidating and confusing, and I honestly wasn’t sure where to even begin. This training broke everything down in such a practical, realistic, and approachable way.”
“What stood out most was how doable Ashlyn made the entire process feel. She doesn’t just teach theory, she explains the actual workflow, how to structure assessments, what to look for, how to communicate with clients and surgeons, and how to confidently build this niche into your practice.”
“By the end of the training, I felt genuinely prepared to start completing assessments instead of feeling overwhelmed or scared of making mistakes. The templates, examples, and real-world guidance were incredibly helpful and saved me so much time.”
Does This Sound Like You?
You got into this field because you wanted to help people — not because you wanted to fight insurance companies, carry a crushing caseload, and still wonder at the end of the month whether the math is going to work out.
Maybe you're a great therapist who's completely burned out. Maybe you're working full time at an agency making far less than your skills are worth. Maybe you're already in private practice but you're tired of the weekly therapy grind and you're looking for something that gives you more flexibility, better income, and clients who are motivated and show up ready to work.
Or maybe you've heard about bariatric psychological assessments and you're intrigued, but have no idea where to start, what the evaluations actually involve, or whether this niche is a realistic fit for your license and practice.
Our Bariatric Psychological Assessment Training Course was built for all of these scenarios.
From Enrollment to First Evaluation
No hunting for templates. No piecing together billing guidance. No guessing at the clearance letter. It's all here.
What's Included
| 11 self-paced video modules | ✓ |
| All templates, scripts & forms | ✓ |
| Standardized assessment tools | ✓ |
| Patient education PowerPoint & script | ✓ |
| Billing & pricing guidance | ✓ |
| Marketing & surgeon referral strategy | ✓ |
| Lifetime access + future updates | ✓ |
| Total | $450 |
| Enroll Now | |
Screening Options for Bariatric Psychological Assessments
One Course. Everything You Need.
Every module is built around what you'll actually do in practice: the clinical work, the documentation, the business setup, and the ongoing growth of your assessment practice.
Here’s What You’ll Learn:
Meet the instructor, Ashlyn Douglass-Barnes, LCSW, whose conducted over a thousand bariatric assessments in her practice throughout her 15 years as a therapist, and learn about the course objectives.
Intro to Bariatric Psychological Assessments
Purpose of Bariatric Psychological Evaluations
In the first module, you’ll learn the purpose of bariatric psychological assessments. More importantly, you will be able to identify why bariatric assessments are necessary for bariatric surgery patients, as well as recognize what these psychological assessments are not meant to do.
Recommendations for Areas Covered
In the second section of this training, you will learn the requirements for bariatric assessments. We will go over the assessment document and identify where each item is gathered from the client and notated in the documentation to the surgeon.
Biopsychosocial
In the third module, you’ll be shown the client documentation and clinician template for a full biopsychosocial evaluation. This thorough assessment meets clinical guidelines for best practice for bariatric assessments, and it is the first document to be completed for the surgeon. This document will be available for you to download and personalize.
Screening Options
In the fourth module of this training, you’ll learn about the ASMBS recommendations for the use of psychological tests or screeners. Several free and in-the-public-domain options are available and shown in this section. These documents will also be available for download.
Bariatric Client Questionnaire
In the fifth module, we’ll go over the client-facing questionnaire, which covers bariatric-specific information including past attempts at weight loss, exercise history, understanding of the surgery itself, and how it will impact the person’s life. The bariatric questionnaire will help you identify how much information to teach as well as what the client already knows. This document will be available for you to download and personalize.
Evaluation Outcomes for Bariatric Clients
In module six, take a deep dive into potential outcomes for bariatric psychological assessments. Learn a green-yellow-orange-red conceptualization system for clearance. We’ll also cover possible contradictions to surgery and how to discuss them with clients, including situations when clients need other treatments before being given clearance for surgery or as a condition for surgical clearance.
Bariatric Clearance Letter for Surgeon
Module seven covers the bariatric clearance letter, which is the second document you will send the surgeon. We’ll go through each section of the letter, identifying where the information comes from and various wording options for each outcome or recommendation. This document will be available for you to download and personalize.
Bariatric Evaluation Education
In module eight, you’ll learn how to educate the client on bariatric surgery during their evaluation, including word-for-word scripts. The ASMBS requires clients to be educated on the type of surgery they wish to have, how the surgery physically works, how it will impact their minds and bodies, and what changes they will need to make after surgery to be successful, and how to recognize the need for additional therapy if issues arise in the future.
Billing, Pricing, & Insurance
In the nineth module, we cover billing practices, how to identify pricing, and how to bill insurance for bariatric psychological assessments. You’ll learn exactly how to discuss your billing structure with clients, and why you use that billing structure (insurance/self-pay).
Marketing, Business Generation, & Social Media
In module ten, we cover marketing your new bariatric psychological assessment business, how to generate business to find more clients and referral sources for bariatric psychological assessments, and how to use the power of social media to increase visibility. This section focuses on the business aspects of conducting bariatric psychological assessments.
Consultation, Associations, & Considerations
In the last module, we cover consultation and building a network of providers. We’ll discuss how to consult with surgeons and when to directly communicate concerns with them. We also cover associations you can join, networking opportunities, and other considerations as you move forward with assessments.
Bariatric Psychological Assessment Training Course Templates
All included. Fully editable. Ready to use from day one.
Clinician Forms
Bariatric Clearance Letter
Clinician Biopsychosocial Template
Client Forms
Client Biopsychosocial Questionnaire
Bariatric Client Questionnaire
Assessment Tools
AUDIT
Eas-26
PHQ-9 and GAD-7
Education Materials
Patient Education PowerPoint
Patient Education Script
What Most Therapists Don't Realize About This Niche:
Bariatric surgery is one of the most common elective surgeries performed in the United States, and every patient is required to complete a psychological evaluation before they can proceed. That evaluation must be conducted by a licensed mental health professional.
Here's what makes this niche different from almost anything else in the therapy space:
Cash-pay only. No insurance billing, no prior authorizations.
Fully telehealth-compatible. Conduct evaluations from anywhere you’re licensed.
Consistent referral pipeline. Surgeons and bariatric programs refer continuously so you don't need social media to stay busy.
Meaningful work. You're helping people prepare for a life-changing decision at a critical moment.
This isn't a side hustle. It's a specialty, and both the importance and the demand are real, while the supply of qualified therapists is still low.
Meet Your Instructor,
Ashlyn Douglass-Barnes, LCSW
Bariatric therapist. ASMBS member. 14+ year post-op bariatric patient.
Ashlyn has been conducting bariatric psychological assessments for over a decade and has completed 1,000s of evaluations. She's been working to ensure that mental health providers have a recognized, meaningful seat at the table in the bariatric care team because that presence is still newer than most people realize.
But Ashlyn's connection to this work goes beyond the clinical.
She is herself a bariatric patient, celebrating more than 14 years since surgery, and is part of the less than 5% of bariatric patients who have maintained 100% of their excess weight loss at the 10-year mark. Ashlyn knows what it feels like to sit across from a therapist before surgery. She knows the questions patients are really asking, the fears they don't always say out loud, and what it means to have a provider who is genuinely prepared for this work.
She also knows what it's like to need this niche before it was accessible.
Ashlyn built this course so that no therapist who comes after her has to do it the hard way.
This Course Is Right For You If:This Course Is Right For You If:You're a licensed therapist, counselor, psychologist, or mental health professional
You want to add a cash-pay, single-session service that doesn't require an ongoing caseload
You're interested in working remotely or with more schedule flexibility
You're burned out on weekly therapy and want a meaningful alternative or supplement
You're in private practice and want to increase your revenue without increasing your hours
You've heard about bariatric assessments and want a structured path to start doing them
This Course Is Not Right For You If:You are not a licensed mental health professional
You're looking for a bariatric therapy training focused on ongoing treatment (that's a different course — see Beyond the Scale)
You're looking for a certification — this course does not issue a certification, because no certification is required or recognized by ASMBS for conducting these evaluations
Still have questions? Browse the FAQs here.
This Course Is Not Right For You If:
You Don't Have to Build This From Scratch
Ashlyn spent years figuring out what you can learn in a weekend. Every template, every script, every billing decision, every surgeon outreach strategy — it's all here, organized into 11 modules and ready to implement the moment you finish.
The bariatric surgical population is growing and there’s a real need for qualified evaluators. The therapists who move into this space now are building practices that are flexible, financially sustainable, and most importantly, genuinely meaningful.
Self-paced. Lifetime access. All templates included. Start today.
Not ready for the full course yet? Browse individual templates or reach out with questions.
ASMBS does not endorse nor require this training to conduct bariatric psychological evaluations.
