The Society for the Advancement of Actuarial Risk/Need Assessment (SAARNA) is a not-for-profit registered in Ontario, Canada.
MISSION: to PromotE and SUPPORT high-quality research and implementation of tools for the assessment of risk and intervention needs relevant to sexual, violent, and general recidivism in order to advance public protection and the orderly, supported, and safe reintegration of individuals in the corrections and forensic mental health systems.
OUR BOARD
R. Karl Hanson
R. Karl Hanson, Ph.D., C.Psych., President, SAARNA. Dr. Hanson is one of the leading researchers in the field of risk assessment and treatment for individuals with a history of sexual offending. He is co-author and Master Trainer of the Static-99R, Static-2002R, STABLE-2007 and ACUTE-2007 risk tools. He has received career contribution awards from the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, Public Safety Canada, the International Association for the Treatment of Sexual Offenders, and the Criminal Justice Section of the Canadian Psychological Association. Based in Ottawa, Canada, he worked for Public Safety Canada between 1991 and 2017, and is now adjunct faculty in the Psychology Department of Carleton University (Ottawa).
Maaike Helmus
L. Maaike Helmus is an Assistant Professor in Criminology at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Her research has focused on risk assessment for individuals in the criminal justice system, particularly risk scale development and validation for individuals with a history of sexual offending, general violence, or intimate partner violence. She is also interested in the cross-cultural validity of risk assessment for individuals of Indigenous heritage. She is part of the development team for Static-99R, Static-2002R, BARR-2002R, STABLE-2007, ACUTE-2007, VRAG-R, CPORT, and the Risk of Administrative Segregation Tool (RAST). Dr. Helmus also has a particular interest in meta-analysis and statistical approaches to prediction. In addition to her numerous publications, she is currently co-editor of the journal Sexual Offending: Research, Theory, and Prevention and is on the editorial board of Sexual Abuse and Psychological Assessment.
Yolanda Fernandez
Dr. Yolanda Fernandez, C. Psych. is a clinical forensic psychologist with a specialty in the assessment and treatment of individuals who have committed sexual offences. She is a Master Trainer of the Static-99R, STABLE-2007 and ACUTE-2007 and a trainer of the Static-2002R. She was the lead author on the extensive revisions to the STABLE-2007 manual and the ACUTE-2007 manual and is the second author for the revised 2016 Static-99R manual. Based in Kingston, Canada Dr. Fernandez has a private practice providing assessments and treatment for individuals on probation for sexual offences. Dr. Fernandez has multiple presentations at international conferences and publications in peer reviewed journals as well as a number of co-authored and co-edited books.
David Thornton
David Thornton, Ph.D., is a psychologist in private practice based in Wisconsin. He is licensed to practice as a psychologist in Wisconsin and Minnesota in the United States, and also in the United Kingdom. He was research director for Wisconsin’s program for sexually violent persons for three years and previously was the treatment director for that program for over a decade. He has published on evidence-based standards for effective correctional programs and on the importance of therapist style in the provision of treatment designed to reduce sexual recidivism. He has been involved in the development of static actuarial instruments to assess sexual recidivism risk, contributing to the development of such scales as Static-99, Static-2002, Static-99R, Static-2002R and Risk Matrix 2000. He has been involved in the development of psychological risk assessment, creating the Structured Risk Assessment (SRA) framework, and in ways of understanding and measuring protective factors, being involved in the creation of the SAPROF-SO. David Thornton has published three books, over 15 chapters in edited books, and over 80 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
OUR COMMITTEES
Policy & Practice Committee
CHAIR:
Yolanda Fernandez
MEMBERS:
Robin Wilson
Andrew Brankley
Anton Schweighofer
Geris Serran
Wineke Smid
David Thornton
Research Committee
CHAIR:
Maaike Helmus
MEMBERS:
Kelly Babchishin
Andrew Brankley
Angela Eke
N. Zoe Hilton
Seung Lee
Michael Seto
David Thornton
RISK MATRIX – 2000 Committee
CHAIR:
David Thornton
MEMBERS:
Yolanda Fernandez
Maaike Helmus
CPORT/CASIC Committee
CHAIR:
Michael Seto
MEMBERS:
Angela Eke
Maaike Helmus
ODARA Committee
CHAIR:
N. Zoe Hilton
MEMBERS:
Elke Ham
Maaike Helmus
Sandy Jung
Thanks to the following experts who provided training, peer review, feedback, and helpful guidance. It takes a village.
2024
Dana Anderson
Sam Ardansinski
Kelly Babchishin
Ian Barsetti
James Cantor
Lea Chankin
Franca Cortoni
Laetitia Geoffroy-Dallery
Katherine “Katie” Gotch
Andrew J. R. Harris
Brian Judd
Sharon M. Kelley
Mark Olver
Dawn Pflugradt
Lisa Ramshaw
Anton Schweighofer
Geris Serran
Lakshmi (Luck) Subramanian
Wineke Smid
Megan Stenswick
Craig Teofilo
Richard (Bo) Travis
Treena Wilkie
Robin Wilson
Adam Yerke