Hot Topics in Mental Health & Law: Civil Commitment series
Tuesday, June 10, 2025, 12:00–1:00 p.m. PT
Webinar description
A panel of speakers from the earlier sessions will wrap up the series, representing lived experience with civil commitment, clinicians, researchers, and policymakers. The session will offer a chance to continue the conversation on the perspectives and themes discussed. This panel will also provide an opportunity to address questions raised during the course of the series.
Submit a question for the panelists.
Webinar is free and will be recorded for later viewing.
Learning objectives:
As a result of participating in this presentation, learners will be able to:
- Identify the diverse perspectives on civil commitment presented throughout the series
- Explore ongoing community needs concerning civil commitment, crisis care, and evidence-based practice across the behavioral health care continuum
About the Panelists:
Manka Dhingra, JD, is deputy majority leader of the Washington State Senate. She brings two decades of experience as a prosecutor and behavioral health expert to her role as chair of the Senate Law & Justice Committee. During her time in the Senate, Dhingra chaired the Senate Behavioral Health Subcommittee and helped pass legislation and funding to transform the Washington state behavioral health system, reorienting it around prevention as well as improving crisis response. She is one of the state’s key proponents of expanding the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and continues to strive to ensure Washingtonians with behavioral health needs get the treatment they need and deserve. As a senior deputy prosecuting attorney, she created and chaired the Therapeutic Alternative Unit, where she oversaw the Regional Mental Health Court and Regional Veterans Court, helped develop the 40-hour Crisis Intervention training at the Criminal Justice Training Center, and trained law enforcement in de-escalation and alternative to incarceration.
Shadoe Jones, JD, advises on key policy considerations, collaborates with legislative partners, and provides legal counsel to advocate for the improvement of state and federal laws and systems of care to benefit individuals with severe mental illness (SMI) with the Treatment Advocacy Center. Previously, Jones served as a criminal defense attorney for those with SMI in Arizona. She advocated for resolutions that acknowledged the role of SMI, included treatment, and mitigated the impact of criminal charges on the individual’s future and access to benefits. Jones has been active in grassroots efforts to reduce barriers to treatment and the criminalization of SMI within Arizona. Jones received her juris doctor from Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law and her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and sociology from the University of Delaware.
Sarah Kopelovich, PhD, ABPP, is a forensically-trained clinical psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington. She is an associate professor; a core faculty member at the Center for Mental Health, Policy, and the Law; and holds the first Professorship of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis (CBTp). Dr. Kopelovich has principal and co-investigator status on federal- and state-funded initiatives to develop, deploy, and evaluate strategies to implement evidence-based mental health practices, including cognitive behavioral therapy for psychosis, coordinated specialty care, and digital mental health interventions. Dr. Kopelovich is a founding member and current president of the North America CBT for Psychosis Network, the mission of which is to advance the dissemination of high-quality CBTp across North America.
Dawn Macready-Santos, LICSW, is the co-president of the Washington Association of Designated Crisis Responders and has been a designated crisis responder (DCR) in Clark County for eight years. She is a licensed clinical social worker at Oregon Health And Science University at the Institute for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. She has worked for two decades in the crisis and complex medical and mental health needs community in Washington and Oregon. She has extensive experience coordinating services and navigating complex legal, medical, and court systems with individuals. Dawn routinely teaches professionals about involuntary commitment law.
Shawgi Silver, MD, MPHS, obtained his medical doctorate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine. He went on to earn a Master of Population Health Sciences prior to completing medical residency at the same institution. He sub-specialized in child and adolescent psychiatry with a concentration in neurodevelopmental disorders at Seattle Children’s Hospital and then completed an additional fellowship in forensic medicine at Oregon Health & Science University. He does work in worker’s compensation, disability claims, fitness for duty evaluations, tort claims, and competency evaluations. His experience with testimony and depositions is an additionally distinguishing feature of his medico-legal work.
Laura Pippin, MSP, is the co-president of the Washington Association of Designated Crisis Responders and the program manager of Crisis Services in Central Washington. She has been a member of the Crisis Response Improvement Strategy committee for the past three years. Laura has been a designated crisis responder in Washington since 2012 and previously was a designated crisis responder in Oregon for over twenty years. She is invested in communities and individuals in Washington and advocating for their safety and quality of life. She holds a Master of Science in psychology.
Laura Van Tosh’s work is born from her experience as a patient turned activist, and she has been involved with the peer movement since 1985. She is the founder of the Mental Health Policy Roundtable, which brings newcomers and veterans of policy together in a neutral environment of learning. Laura has written extensively about peer-operated behavioral health care services and homelessness and has worked inside three state psychiatric hospitals. She is a member of the Behavioral Health Joint Legislative and Executive Committee, which is developing a five-year strategic plan for the behavioral health care system in Washington state, and serves as a consultant with Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute.
Continuing Education
This talk is included in an eight-session webinar series hosted by the UW Center for Mental Health, Policy, and the Law, Hot Topics in Mental Health and Law: Civil Commitment, for which continuing education is available.