Working with Persons with Special Needs in Forensic Settings
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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:
- Who are we talking about?
- The Risk-Need-Responsivity framework
- Methods of assessing Risk and Need
- Ensuring Responsivity and specialized program/supervision options
- Employing an applied behavioral analytic approach
- Balancing risks and rights
- What can we expect: Successes and areas for further development
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.
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
Disclosure
Continuing Education Approval
American Psychological Association (APA)
Safer Society Foundation, Inc. is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Safer Society Foundation, Inc. maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB)
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 Safer Society Foundation, Inc. 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.
Who's Presenting
Robin Wilson, Ph.D., ABPP
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.