Online Training: Working with Persons with Special Needs in Forensic Settings

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Length of Training: Four Hours
Credit: 
4 CE Credit Hours
Cost of Training: 
$120.00

Purchase price includes access to training video and material for 10 days. Participants will be eligible for a Certificate of Completion.

This program is co-sponsored by Safer Society Press and Continuing Excellence, LLC


The Risk/Need/Responsivity (RNR) framework revolutionized correctional intervention schemes when it was first introduced in the 1990s. Since that time, practitioners and programs alike have worked to ensure that clients in forensic settings really do receive an intensity of intervention that is commensurate with the level of risk they pose (risk principle), while criminogenic needs are specifically targeted (need principle). However, despite gains in the areas of risk and need, the field continues to struggle with the responsivity principle, which encourages service providers to consider the nature of their involvement with clients. This includes ensuring motivation to change and attention to those client characteristics that ultimately influence success or failure. This difficulty in truly “connecting” with clients has been most pronounced in developing program options for persons with special needs profiles (e.g., intellectual disabilities, severe mental health issues, other cognitive limitations, etc.). Indeed, difficulties remain with respect to ensuring that interventions and supervision strategies actually consider the “special needs” of these clients in regard to all aspects of the RNR framework. This online training will address the issues faced by individuals with special needs in forensic circumstances, with a focus on ensuring that clients receive services that are individualized and evidence-based to the extent possible. Of particular emphasis will be the issue of creating and implementing assessment, intervention, and risk management processes that are not just modifications of existing methods devised for individuals without special needs.

Topics to be discussed:
1) Who are we talking about?
2) The Risk-Need-Responsivity framework
3) Methods of assessing Risk and Need
4) Ensuring Responsivity and specialized program/supervision options
5) Employing an applied behavioral analytic approach
6) Balancing risks and rights
7) What can we expect: Successes and areas for further development

As a result of this training, participants will be better able to:
1) Explain the components of the RNR framework.
2) Describe how programs often don’t adhere effectively to the responsivity principle with special-needs clients.
3) Explain the challenges faced by clients with special needs in obtaining effective correctional interventions.
4) Appraise the potential utility assessment, treatment, and risk management strategies used in their jurisdictions.
5) Outline and recommend important modifications to existing practices so as to ensure the overall responsivity experience of clients with special needs.

Four Hours of Training

The training session runs for four hours. The charge is $120. In order to receive a CE credit certificate after watching the training, you must complete and submit the quiz below. If you seek only psychology credits, the evaluation is optional, and you can remain anonymous.

Access to training materials and video will last for 10 days following the payment of the registration fee.

All registrants will be eligible for a Certificate of Completion for 4 CE credit hours.

Training registration fees are non-refundable.

Continuing Education Credit Hours

Continuing Excellence, LLC is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Continuing Excellence, LLC maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Working with Persons with Special Needs in Forensic Settings, Course #4792, is approved by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program to be offered by Continuing Excellence LLC as an individual course. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE course approval period: 03/08/2023 – 03/08/2025. Social workers completing this course receive 4 clinical continuing education credits.


Robin Wilson, Ph.D., ABPP
Wilson Psychology Services LLC, McMaster University

Robin J. Wilson, Ph.D., ABPP is a Canadian researcher, educator, and board-certified clinical psychologist who has worked in clinical and forensic psychology in hospital, correctional, and private practice settings for more than 35 years. Robin has published and presented internationally on the assessment, treatment, and risk management of social and sexual psychopathology. Robin maintains an international practice in clinical and consulting psychology based in Sarasota, Florida, and has been an Assistant Clinical Professor (Adjunct) of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences for more than 10 years at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Robin’s current interests are focused on collaborative models of risk management and restoration as persons of risk are transitioned from institutional to community settings, in addition to ensuring responsive clinical and supervisory service delivery for individuals with special needs.

Continuing Excellence, LLC
P.O. Box 134, East Middlebury, VT 05740
Tel: (802) 771-4155
Info@ContinuingExcellence.com
www.ContinuingExcellence.com

Audience
This training is for professionals working with people who have experienced complex trauma as well as people who have perpetrated abuse. Professionals who will benefit from this training include social workers, psychologists, clinical counselors, and interested paraprofessionals.

Content Level
All Audiences

Special Accommodations Statement
Safer Society and Continuing Excellence are dedicated to meeting the needs of all attendees. Attendees will be provided with copies of the presenters’ materials (PowerPoint slides, images, etc.) for their own reference. Please note that closed-captioning will be available for this video. If/when further accommodations are necessary, we will make every effort to suit participants’ needs.

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