A one-day continuing education workshop will be scheduled on the following dates at these locations:
 

Eastern Pennsylvania:
May 9, 2008 at Norristown State Hospital
 

Western Pennsylvania: May 16, 2008 at Mayview State Hospital
 

For registration information, please complete this form.

 
     


The Pennsylvania Forensic Evaluation Project (FEP) was formed to provide up-to-date information and continuing education to mental health professionals in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The FEP was started in 2004, and involves a collaboration between the City of Philadelphia, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and Drexel University. The specific focus of the project for 2004-05 was on the evaluation of competence to stand trial and the provision of expert testimony by mental health professionals in the public sector. In 2005-06, the Project will address the restoration to competence of defendants who incompetent to stand trial. Both assessment and treatment will be included. In 2006-07, the focus will be violence risk assessment, risk management, and recovery in forensic populations.

Drs. Kirk Heilbrun (a forensic psychologist) and Richard Redding (an attorney-psychologist) have collaborated to produce a sourcebook that describes relevant law, ethics, practice standards, and specialized tools available for use in forensic evaluations of competence to stand trial, both nationally and in Pennsylvania. This sourcebook was provided as part of two one-day continuing education workshops in May of 2005. The workshops were conducted in Eastern Pennsylvania (Norristown State Hospital) and Western Pennsylvania (Mayview State Hospital). The sourcebook will be expanded in 2005-06 to include restoration of imcompetent defendants and the assessment and treatment of individuals found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity. In 2006-07, the sourcebook will include information on violence risk assessment, risk management, and recovery.

A participant listserv was constructed in 2005 to facilitate updates regarding the trainings. To be included in this listserv, please notify Allison Hart at fep@drexel.edu.
 
     




Kirk Heilbrun is currently Professor and Head of the Department of Psychology at Drexel University. He received his doctorate in clinical psychology in 1980 from the University of Texas at Austin, and completed postdoctoral fellowship training from 1981-82 in psychology and criminal justice at Florida State University. His current research focuses on juvenile and adult offenders, legal decision-making, and forensic evaluation associated with such decision-making. His practice interests also center around forensic assessment, and he directs a forensic assessment clinic in his department. He is board certified in Clinical Psychology and in Forensic Psychology, American Board of Professional Psychology, and is a past president of both the American Psychology-Law Psychology/ APA Division 41, and the American Board of Forensic Psychology. He received the 2004 award for Distinguished Contributions to Forensic Psychology from the American Academy of Forensic Psychology.

Areas of Specialization and Interest:
Forensic Psychology, Violence, Risk Communication, Juvenile and Adult Criminality, Forensic Psychological Assessment, Violence Risk Assessment, Forensic Psychological Assessment, Treatment of Mentally Disordered Offenders



Richard Redding is currently Professor of Law at Villanova University School of Law, and Director of the JD/PhD Program in Law and Psychology at Villanova and Drexel Universities. He also holds an appointment as Research Professor of Psychology at Drexel University. Dr. Redding received his B.A. from Hampden-Sydney College (with honors), his M.S. from Vanderbilt University, his J.D. (with honors) from Washington and Lee University (where he was the Frances Lewis Law Fellow), and his Ph.D. (in psychology) from the University of Virginia. Following law school, he clerked for the Honorable Michael W. Farrell at the D.C. Court of Appeals in Washington and practiced law for several years in Virginia. Dr. Redding is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. Prior to joining the Villanova faculty in 2001, Professor Redding was an Assistant Professor and Associate Director of the Institute of Law, Psychiatry, and Public Policy at the University of Virginia School of Law.

Areas of Specialization and Interest:
Criminal Law, Juvenile Justice, Mental Health Law, Social Science in Law and Public Policy, and Sociopolitical Biases in Social Science.