Upcoming Events
Forensic Mental Health Journal Club
Monday, October 23, 2023, 5:00–6:00 p.m. PT
Drs. Jennifer Piel and Edward E. Goldenberg host a quarterly virtual journal club to discuss articles related to forensic mental health. The club is open to practicing clinicians, clinical trainees, and anyone interested in topics in forensic mental health.
Attendees will discuss two articles about competency restoration:
- Factors influencing adjudicative competence and length of time to restoration
- Cognitive behavior therapy for psychosis as an adjunct to competency restoration
Jennifer Piel, MD, JD, is an associate professor in the UW Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, director of the UW Center for Mental Health, Policy and the Law, and staff psychiatrist at the VA Puget Sound. Dr. Piel has expertise in forensic psychiatry, laws regulating mental health, education, and policy.
Edward E. Goldenberg, PhD, is a clinical professor in the UW Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. He has extensive experience working in corrections, mental health, and academic settings.
UW Department of Psychiatry Grand Rounds: Dr. Rebecca Brendel
Friday, February 9, 2024, 12:00–1:00 p.m. PT
No registration required. Join Zoom meeting (passcode: 461403)
Save the date! Additional details to be announced.
Rebecca Weintraub Brendel, MD, JD, is the Director of the Center for Bioethics and the Director of the Master of Science in Bioethics Program at Harvard Medical School. She bases her clinical work in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she is the director of Law and Ethics at the Center for Law, Brain, and Behavior, provides medical oversight for the hospital’s inpatient guardianship team, and practices clinical and forensic psychiatry.
Dr. Brendel’s clinical practice has focused on patients with complex psychosocial problems, including trauma, dementia, mental illness, homelessness, substance abuse, decisional incapacity, lack of community support, and poverty. This broad work has informed her educational efforts and research interests focusing on issues at the interface of psychiatry, medicine, law, ethics, and human rights. She is an avid teacher and lecturer in both medical and legal settings.
Past Events
Forensic Mental Health Journal Club
Drs. Jennifer Piel and Edward E. Goldenberg host a quarterly virtual journal club to discuss articles related to forensic mental health. The club is open to practicing clinicians, clinical trainees, and anyone interested in topics in forensic mental health.
April 24, 2023
In this first session, Dr. Goldenberg will lead participants in discussing two articles related to correctional mental health:
- Forensic psychology and correctional psychology: Distinct but related subfields of psychological science and practice
- Dual agency and ethics conflicts in correctional practice: Sources and solutions
July 24, 2023
Participants will discuss two articles about violence risk assessment:
- From predicting dangerousness to assessing and managing risk for violence: A journey across four generations
- Investigating the dynamic nature of multiple risk assessment instruments in a forensic mental health hospital
Rotations & Opportunities in Forensic Mental Health
February 21, 2023
Dr. Jennifer Piel will host a session for interested residents to discuss rotations and opportunities in forensic mental health. Residents who participated in forensic rotations will briefly summarize their experiences. Both residents and instructors will be available for questions and and discussion.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis is a Team Sport: Learn How to Play
Thursday, December 15, 2022
This webinar, hosted by the Treatment Advocacy Center, features Dr. Sarah Kopelovich, core faculty member of the Center for Mental Health, Policy, and the Law. She will discuss CBT for psychosis, an evidence-based treatment that addresses the distress of experiencing psychosis and functional impairments. Research shows that it can reduce hospitalization, increase medication adherence, and increase insight, which makes it an ideal therapeutic partner to assisted outpatient treatment.
Resynthesizing the Nexus of Mental Health, Law Enforcement and Race (watch recording)
Friday, December 9, 2022
Cheryl Wills, MD, child and forensic psychiatrist and chair of the APA task force on structural racism, will discuss topics related to race, policing, and mental illness including the gap in knowledge of how intrinsic and extrinsic biases in medicine and law enforcement affect healthcare outcomes in members of minority groups, including people who have mental disorders. She will describe concerns about how law enforcement officials interact with people in MH crisis, examine the emotional effects of the interaction between law enforcement officials and minoritized group members, including individuals who have mental disorders, and describe how organized medicine’s approach to addressing racism can inform law enforcement’s strategy.
Forensic Spotlight: Dr. Cheryl Wills
Thursday, December 8, 2022
Although all are welcome, this event is particularly aimed for trainees in mental health disciplines, other healthcare programs, law, and criminal justice. The format will be informal and is intended for trainees to ask questions about forensic mental health, training in this subspecialty, and what it is like to work in forensic mental health settings. Cheryl Wills, MD, has nationally-recognized expertise in adult, child, and forensic psychiatry, as well as organized medicine and advocacy.