A high level of clinical interviewing skill is required in the violence risk field and in forensic mental health in general. However, few practitioners have training or support in the development of specifically forensic clinical interviewing skills. This two-day course is designed to develop skills and awareness of key interviewing techniques in order to maximise the opportunities practitioners have to gather information essential to the reasons for their evaluations.

The practice of clinical risk assessment and management has changed greatly in the last five years. Predicting harmful outcomes in clients is giving way to approaches that emphasise the assessment and formulation of risk factors potentially relevant to the outcome to be prevented and risk management planning. Our workshops on advanced risk assessment, formulation and management will cover best practice in the field.

The focus of this two-day workshop is the conceptualization of psychopathic personality disorder using the model described as the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality (CAPP) (Cooke et al., 2012). David Cooke, Stephen Hart, Caroline Logan, and Christine Michie have developed this model and overseen research using it for more than 12 years now. The CAPP model underpins a variety of approaches to measuring psychopathy – we will focus on two measures: a semi-structured clinical interview and an informant rating form. We will emphasize the application of the CAPP model and its measurements to understanding and explaining the presentation of those with the condition through formulation. We will describe the formulation process, and illustrate the utility of the CAPP in formulating those with psychopathy.

This two-day workshop will provide information about the CAPP model – its origin and development – and formal training in the clinical use of the CAPP Interview and CAPP Informant Rating Form. This workshop will be most suitable for those who wish to broaden their evaluation of psychopathy beyond what is possible with traditional measures of the construct, and who wish to make the assessment of psychopathy useful to the development of formulations and treatment and risk management plans. This workshop would also be useful for those planning to undertake research into psychopathy. Practitioners and researchers who are already trained in the assessment of psychopathy and who use structured assessments of personality disorder in their work with clients in forensic hospitals or correctional settings will benefit most from the work presented.
The workshop will be led by Professor David Cooke and Dr Caroline Logan. A technical manual and materials will provided at this course.
For more information about the CAPP, please go to www.gcal.ac.uk/capp.

Practitioners are increasingly required to defend their risk assessment reports in Court and other legal settings. This workshop focuses on enhancing both report writing and courtroom skills. Topics to be covered will include the legal framework within which reports have to be prepared, the importance of identifying and answering the legal question posed, and how to structure reports to increase their defensibility. In relation to evidence-giving, common tactics used in cross-examination will be identified and appropriate responses considered. Participants will be encouraged to bring one of their own reports so that direct feedback can be provided.

The International Personality Disorder Examination (IPDE) is a semi-structured clinical interview developed to assess the personality disorder presentations described in section II of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder 5th Edition (DSM-5) and the International Classification of Diseases 10th Edition (ICD-10). Personality disorder assessment is an important undertaking in forensic and other settings, for example, to clarify diagnosis and co-morbidity, to formulate the association between mental health needs and harmful behaviour, and to justify specific treatment and management pathways within the criminal justice and forensic mental health systems.

This two-day workshop will provide those attending with training in the administration and applications of the IPDE. It will begin with a review of key issues in the assessment and diagnosis of personality disorder, including a review of the alternative model for classifying and assessing personality disorder described in section III of the DSM-5 (AMPD) and the proposed revisions to personality disorder in ICD-11 (due in 2022). The IPDE will be examined in detail – please bring your copy of the manual or purchase one with your registration – and case studies will be used to illustrate important points about different (and differential) diagnoses and potential problems in their individual assessment and measurement. The use of the IPDE as opposed to other methods of assessing personality dysfunction will be discussed. The application of IPDE findings to a formulation about personality functioning and its relevance to treatment and harmful behaviour will also be considered, as well as clinical interviewing skills relevant to the assessment of personality pathology.

The IPDE is a complex clinical tool. Therefore, this course is suitable for experienced mental health practitioners who have a good understanding and working knowledge of personality disorder and the DSM-5 or ICD-10 classification systems. Using the IPDE competently assumes training and experience in making psychiatric diagnoses. The training is therefore most suitable for experienced psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and those with comparable training who are capable of making independent psychiatric diagnoses without semi-structured interviews. Therefore, this training is not suitable for clinicians in the early phase of their training or by research assistants, or medical or graduate students.

Systematic assessment of the risk of harm to others is now generally accepted to be a crucial component in the effective management of violent offenders. Using the method of structured professional judgement, violence risk assessment is geared towards the design of a comprehensive risk management plan. Published guidelines following this approach have long been applied in prisons and forensic mental health services in Britain and now are used widely around the world. With growing recognition of the need for multidisciplinary involvement in risk assessment and risk management planning, as well as an increased awareness of its relevance in any setting where people with histories of violence are encountered, an increasing number of professionals are being expected to contribute to the process.

The HCR-20 is a tool for assessing general violence risk and is perhaps the most commonly applied risk assessment tool using the SPJ approach. It provides guidelines for integrating information from a broad range of risk factors associated with violence recidivism. This workshop is aimed at any professional working with violent offenders. Participants will learn about the structured professional judgement approach and about the background and procedures to the HCR-20. Using case examples, participants will practise drawing up future risk scenarios risk and devising risk management strategies.

Psychopathic personality disorder is an important risk factor for violence. Additionally, it has relevance for treatment and risk management.

The Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R) is currently the best validated measure of psychopathy. The use of the PCL-R has become widespread across many agencies; it provides a standard methodology for assessing this important risk factor.

In particular, emphasis is given to the clinical information derived from the instrument and how that information can be used in risk violence formulation. Using a variety of teaching modalities didactic, interactive and practical exercises, this workshop will introduce participants to the PCL-R.

A video case will be used to allow participants to apply the PCL-R ratings and obtain feedback. The strengths and limitations of the PCL-R will be discussed. The use of the PCL-R in diagnostic and risk formulation will be described.

The keystone of forensic practice is violence prevention. Structured professional judgement approaches (e.g., HCR-20, RSVP) have made a significant contribution to our understanding of the individual patient, prisoner or client. But focusing merely on the individual neglects opportunities for violence prevention. People are violent not just because of who they are, but also, because of where they are.

With his colleague Lorraine Johnstone, David Cooke developed PRISM (Promoting Risk Interventions by Situational Management). This is an evidence-based process that systematically considers all elements of institutional structure and functioning; from security and control, through staff training, morale, and experience to organisational features including, management style, policies and interventions. Just as a physical prism splits white light into its constituent elements, PRISM takes the whole organisation and identifies the constituent elements that affect violence within the organisation; it breaks down complexity in order that interventions can be approached in a measured and systematic manner. The PRISM process moves in seven steps from data collection through risk formulation, scenario planning towards the development of effective interventions for violence prevention.

This workshop will teach participants how to carry out the PRISM process using didactic sessions and case-studies. The workshop is relevant to clinicians, managers, administrators, policy makers and researchers involved in institutions where there is a risk of violence.

In 2007 John Monahan remarked that: “PRISM is a model merging of cutting-edge academic research and state-of-the-art clinical practice. It deserves to be soon and widely implemented in a variety of institutional settings and in many countries.” PRISM has now been used in secure forensic settings, prisons, psychiatric hospitals and institutions for children and young people in New Zealand, Singapore, Barbados, Norway, Denmark and Sweden as well as widely throughout the UK. Lessons learned from these cases will be integrated into this workshop.

Intimate partner violence is one of the most common and severe forms of violence – the physical and psychological impact on its direct and many vicarious victims is profound, multifaceted, and potentially lifelong.  Understanding the origins and purpose of violence, including coercive control, in intimate relationships is an essential clinical skill for a range of practitioners working across a wide variety of support and judicial services.  This one-day training course aims to provide those practitioners with an introduction to the skills they need to apply the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment Guide, or SARA, as their framework.

The SARA was the first set of risk guidance that exemplified the structured professional judgement approach to managing risk.  Many have since followed the lead set by this important publication, not least the HCR-20^V3 (2013)  The SARA is now in its third edition – SARA^V3.  Published in 2015, it not only captures learning about the structured professional judgement approach in general, it provides state-of-the-art guidelines based on the latest understanding of intimate partner violence that has application in many services and jurisdictions.  The SARA^V3 provides a route map for integrating information about a broad range of risk factors associated with intimate partner violence, and a framework for decision-making that is both systematic and practical.  In this one-day workshop participants will learn the process of applying the SARA^V3, using case materials to practice the development of risk formulations and risk management plans.

http://prism-network.no/ 

Numerous instruments now exist to support the efforts of practitioners to predict the likelihood of sexual violence recidivism.  Fewer instruments are available to guide efforts to formulate and manage risk, and ultimately prevent or limit sexually violent behaviour.  This two-day workshop will prepare participants to administer two sets of guidance adhering to the structured professional judgement approach designed for use with sexual offenders for the purpose of understanding and managing the risk of sexually harmful behaviour.

The Risk of Sexual Violence Protocol (RSVP) is a set of comprehensive guidance designed to assist expert practitioners in the enduring case management of men and women who are thought to be at risk of sexually harmful behaviour.  The Sexual Violence Risk-20 Guide Version 2 (SVR-20^V2) is a more brief set of guidance for practitioners with a range of experience working with sexual offenders for the purpose of making summary judgements about risk and general recommendations about risk management.  This workshop will focus mainly on the RSVP and summarise the applications of the SVR-20^V3, therefore it is best suited for practitioners experienced in working with sexually harmful individuals and familiar with appraising and managing the risks they may pose to those around them.

The evidence-base for the structured professional judgement approach will be presented and the origins of its application to sexual offenders discussed.  Case studies will be used to illustrate the applications of both sets of guidance, from assessment through to risk management via the critical task of risk formulation.

http://prism-network.no/