June 11 &12, 2020
Online via Zoom
Register using the “Tickets” button or purchase them here.
Daeton DeGrant and Nena Kircher
Center Hope Solutions
https://www.centerhopesolutions.com/#
Technology Monitoring and Internet Safety Planning
Candice Christiansen
The Global Prevention Project
http://www.theglobalpreventionproject.org/
http://thepreventionpodcast.com/
“Accurate, Compassionate, and Effective”: Essential Elements in Assessment Treatment, and Prevention Strategies for Autistic Individuals
Dan Murrie
Institute of Law, Psychiatry, and Public Policy
Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences
University of Virginia School of Medicine
Issues of Bias in Forensic Evaluations
Elizabeth Griffin
Internet Behavior Consulting, Elizabeth Griffin Counseling and Consulting
David Delmonico
Full Professor – Counselor Education, Duquesne University (in PA)
Internet Behavior Consulting, LLC
#digitaldeviance: Understanding Assessment and Treatment of Child Pornography Offenders
Luck Subramanian, Gina Ambroziak and Rachel Kahn
Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center
Internal and External Factors Impacting Supervised Release Adjustment
Agenda
June 11, 2020
8:00 Luck Subramanian, Gina Ambroziak and Rachel Kahn – Internal and External Factors Impacting Supervised Release Adjustment
9:30 Break
9:45 Daeton DeGrant and Nena Kircher – Technology Monitoring and Internet Safety Planning
11:45 Break for Lunch
12:45 Candice Christiansen – “Accurate, Compassionate, and Effective”: Essential Elements in Assessment Treatment, and Prevention Strategies for Autistic Individuals
2:15 Break
4:00 End
4:30 Annual WiATSA Meeting of Members will be held via a separate Zoom meeting
June 12, 2020
8:30 Dan Murrie – Issues of Bias in Forensic Evaluations
10:00 Break
11:45 Break for Lunch
12:45 Elizabeth Griffin and David Delmonico – #digitaldeviance: Understanding Assessment and Treatment of Child Pornography Offenders
2:15 Break
4:00 End of the conference
Speaker Profiles and Topics
Luck Subramanian, Gina Ambroziak and Rachel Kahn
Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center
Internal and External Factors Impacting Supervised Release Adjustment
Clients committed under the Wisconsin Sexually Violent Person law are placed on supervised release (SR) upon the Court’s determination that they meet the statutory criteria, or as part of a stipulated agreement. Supervised release placement is preceded by community notification. This symposium examines the community reentry experiences of SR clients from a systems perspective and seeks to understand SR adjustment as a function of external/situational factors (e.g., housing, employment, social support), including client perspective on community notification. Secondly, we examine the role of internal factors in enhancing or thwarting SR adjustment by drawing on the components of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and time perspective. As a third component, we present outcome data in the form of SR violations and charges accrued while on SR, and assess if situational factors and internal factors contribute to supervised release adjustment incrementally after accounting for static or actuarial risk, as measured by the Static-99R score. This symposium will also compare adjustment (i.e., custody events for technical violations or charges) of clients under SR to their adjustment following unconditional discharge. Adaptation under these two distinct release environments is presented to highlight implications for risk management.
Speaker Profiles
Dr. Luck Subramanian is the director of the Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Evaluation Unit (SRSTC-EU), Madison, Wisconsin. The SRSTC-EU is responsible for completing the Wisconsin SVP precommitment examinations to determine if an individual meets criteria for commitment under the SVP law, and annual SVP examinations to determine if the individuals meet criteria for supervised release or discharge.
Gina Ambroziak has worked for Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center, Wisconsin’s sex offender civil commitment program, for over ten years. She is currently the Quality Improvement and Research Supervisor and held previous positions with the program as a Research Analyst and Treatment Specialist. She has been involved in research related to risk assessment practices of forensic evaluators, individuals with a history of sexual offending and major mental illness, and nutrition and mental health. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in psychology and legal studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dr. Rachel Kahn is employed as a psychological associate with the Research Unit of Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center in Madison, WI. She received her Doctoral degree in Applied Developmental Psychology with specializations in developmental psychopathology and forensic psychology. She has authored numerous publications primarily related to the development and expression of psychopathic traits in adolescents and adults. Her most recent work has focused on adverse childhood experiences among those who sexually offend, biases in risk determinations for civil commitment evaluations, and using electroencephalogram (EEG) to help accurately identify treatment needs in sex offender populations.
Daeton DeGrant and Nena Kircher
Center Hope Solutions
https://www.centerhopesolutions.com/#
Technology Monitoring and Internet Safety Planning
While Sexual Offenders have historically had their internet access limited, this is no longer a realistic or appropriate goal. This presentation provides guidance to those working with these clients to establish a plan for appropriate and healthy access to the internet. The Internet Safety Plan is a crucial part of the client’s overall Risk Management Plan, even for those clients who may never have had problems with the internet in the past. This seminar will discuss internet related risk and provide guidance in the development and implementation of an internet safety plan for clients with a history of sexual offending.
Speaker Profiles
Daeton DeGrant, MS, MA, LPC has spent the past five and a half years working with Southeast Missouri Mental Health Center/Sex Offender Treatment Services as an LPC and then as the Digital Monitor Coordinator. He has a Master’s of Science in Digital Forensics and Cyber Investigations and a Master in Arts in Professional Counseling and more than 3 years of experiences monitoring, investigating various electronic devices, and occasionally testifying in court to these findings. Prior to his work with MODMH he spent five years providing direct care and case management to developmentally delayed patients in the community including patients with severe behavioral dysregulation. Mr. DeGrant is trained in hypnotherapy and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction.
Nena Kircher, PsyD, LP has worked in a forensic setting Missouri Department of Corrections and Missouri Department of Mental Health since August 2011. A majority of this time was spent conducting risk assessments related to Missouri’s Sexually Violent Predator Statute. Her areas of expertise including psychological testing, trauma, servere and persistent mental illness, and curriculum development. She is currently responsible for overseeing sex offender treatment at Southeast Missouri Mental Health – Adult Psychiatric Services. She also has six years experience working in community mental health primarily in a rural setting. Dr. Kircher is trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction.
Candice Christiansen
The Global Prevention Project
http://www.theglobalpreventionproject.org/
http://thepreventionpodcast.com/
“Accurate, Compassionate, and Effective”: Essential Elements in Assessment Treatment, and Prevention Strategies for Autistic Individuals
Accurately assessing individuals on the autism spectrum poses several unique challenges; this is especially true in criminal cases where individuals on the autism spectrum may say and act in ways that appear defiant, combative, or even aggressive. It takes compassionate and patient clinical (and legal) professionals to ensure that a comprehensive evaluation is completed in order to develop an accurate treatment plan that is relevant to the autistic individual’s issues. In this half- day presentation, Candice will provide participants with comprehensive guidelines for accurately assessing autistic individuals, identify the specific characteristic autistic individuals have that impact their ability socially and sexually, share a compassionate, mindfulness based, CBT approach and other therapies most relevant in treating autistic individuals with problematic sexual behavior, and provide some effective strategies to help autistic individuals connect with others while learning and retaining information in individual therapy and group settings.
Speaker Profile
Candice Christiansen, M.Ed., LCMHC, is passionate about treating all human beings with dignity and respect. As a child sexual abuse survivor, autistic woman, licensed clinician, and intimacy and trauma expert, Candice has dedicated the last 20 years to working with individuals recovering from trauma, attachment, and intimacy issues. Her programs Namasté Center for Healing and The Global Prevention Project™ are internationally known for providing specialized treatment for the following issues: out of control sexual behavior, infidelity, complex trauma, mental illness, non-contact sex offenses, autism spectrum, and those with minor attractions (e.g., MAPs). In 2019, Candice developed a mindfulness/CBT based for curriculum autism and intimacy issues that she uses in her 12-week web-based autism and intimacy classes. She and her husband Chris provide 2-day couples intensives for autistic/NT couples and as Gottman Leaders, support AS/NT couples in improving communication and connection through an autistic lens. Candice has been an expert witness in Justice, District, and Federal Courts and testifies regularly on behalf of individuals with neurocognitive and neurodevelopmental issues who’ve been charged with various sex offenses to ensure they receive accurate treatment.
Dan Murrie
Institute of Law, Psychiatry, and Public Policy
Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences
University of Virginia School of Medicine
Issues of Bias in Forensic Evaluations
Professional guidelines encourage forensic clinicians assessing sexual offenders to strive for objectivity and minimize bias, particularly biases associated with an adversarial legal system. Likewise, the justice system often assumes that clinicians are interchangeable, and can all reach the same, correct conclusion about an offender’s diagnosis and risk. But emerging research reveals substantial differences among clinicians in the conclusions they reach about the same offenders, and reveals that the adversarial pressure of the justice system may influence clinician conclusions – even on ostensibly objective tasks such as scoring risk assessment measures.
Therefore, this workshop will consider common biases and ways they may compromise accurate, objective assessment. We will consider empirical data from studies of sex offender assessment, and practical examples of bias. Ultimately, we will consider strategies for minimizing bias at several levels: individual opinion formation, case management and practice procedures, and broader system interventions.
Speaker Profile
Daniel Murrie, PhD serves as: Director of Psychology at the Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy (ILPPP), Director of the ILPPP forensic clinic, and Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine Dr. Murrie directs UVA’s postdoctoral fellowship in forensic psychology and oversees the state-wide training program for Virginia forensic evaluators.
As a clinician, Dr. Murrie performs forensic assessment and consultation. As a researcher, he has co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications, as well as books and book chapters addressing forensic mental health evaluation. Much of this work addresses reliability and bias in forensic psychological evaluations.
Elizabeth Griffin
Internet Behavior Consulting, Elizabeth Griffin Counseling and Consulting
David Delmonico
Full Professor – Counselor Education, Duquesne University (in PA)
Internet Behavior Consulting, LLC
#digitaldeviance: Understanding Assessment and Treatment of Child Pornography Offenders
This recently updated workshop will provide information on cutting edge technologies used to access sex online. Participants will be introduced to the most recent theories and typologies related to individuals convicted of child pornography crimes. Elements important to the assessment of individuals convicted of child pornography offenses, including specific risk tools, will be discussed. The presenters will review the six treatment issues associated with child pornography offenders and provide creative, practical treatment ideas. The foundation of this presentation will be based on the Risk / Needs / Responsivity model.
Speaker Profiles
Dr. David Delmonico is a Professor at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dr. Delmonico conducts research, consultation, and training on topics such Internet psychology, cybersex compulsivity, cyber-offense behavior, and digital health and safety among youth. Dr. Delmonico has co‑authored three books on these topics, the latest of which is titled Illegal Images. Dr. Delmonico presents nationally to treatment providers, probation/parole officers, attorneys, and various community groups on these topics. Dr. Delmonico is the Director of the Online Behavior Research and Education Center (OBREC) at Duquesne University.
Elizabeth Griffin, MA is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with over thirty-three years of experience treating individuals with sexually problematic behaviors, especially those that involve the Internet. She has worked in out-patient, in-patient, military, prison and civil commitment settings. Ms. Griffin is certified in the Penile Plethysmograph, the Abel Assessment for Sexual Interest, the Affinity Assessment of Sexual Interest and the LOOK. Ms. Griffin lectures nationally on the assessment and treatment of offline and online sexual offenders as well as those with sexually compulsive behavior. She has written numerous professional articles on these topics, and is co-author of several books and workbooks. She is co-owner of Internet Behavior Consulting.