Instructor Names:
Sharon M Kelley, Psy.D.
Lakshmi (Luck) Subramanian, Ph.D.

Instructor Email Addresses:
[email protected]
[email protected]

Date and Time:
Wednesday May 14, 2025, 10:00am – 5:00pm Eastern Time (7 hours)

Cost: $250 CAD
Discount for SAARNA Affiliates: $50 (See NOTE below.)
Discount for students: $150   (Please complete this form for approval as a student participant.)

(NOTE: You MUST log into your account to register and get the discount at checkout. If you are joining SAARNA for the discount, please register as an Affiliate or User and then wait until your SAARNA account is activated before registering for this event. You will receive one email with a receipt for your SAARNA Affiliate registration and then a 2nd email when your account is manually approved and activated. Please wait for this 2nd email before registering for this event.)

Description of Event:
Sexually Violent Persons (SVP) commitment laws in the United States require that forensic evaluators complete comprehensive assessments on often complicated cases. The adversarial nature of the commitment trial in which the evaluator may offer testimony as well as the need to balance liberty and community safety requires that SVP evaluators are knowledgeable, well-trained, and competent. This full-day workshop is geared towards professionals who have background in risk assessment and are interested in becoming SVP evaluators, are relatively new to completing SVP evaluations, are established SVP evaluators who may wish to hone their skills, and attorneys who wish to know the ins and outs of the SVP evaluation process. We will cover the following: (1) How the wording of SVP statutes in different states can affect methodological choices; (2) How to answer the predisposing mental disorder question; (3) The existing choices of risk assessment tools and the pros and cons for each; (4) How to address questions of lifetime risk for sexual offending and undetected sexual offending; (5) Types of bias common in forensic evaluations and bias mitigation strategies; (6) Best practices for SVP report writing; (7) Application of important research studies for risk assessment and testimony purposes; (8) How to prevent and address bad habits related to assessment procedures and report writing; (9) Communicating with attorneys; and (10) tips for testimony with case examples and discussion.

Prerequisites:
This workshop is geared towards professionals who have background in risk assessment and are interested in becoming SVP evaluators, are relatively new to completing SVP evaluations, are established SVP evaluators who may wish to hone their skills, and attorneys who wish to know the ins and outs of the SVP evaluation process.

Notes for Participants:
Training delivered via Zoom. Duration is 7 hours including a 1 hour break for lunch.

Maximum number of seats: 35

Note: Registrants should sign up using the email address of the person ATTENDING the talk so they can receive important announcements (e.g., Zoom link, training materials).

Electronic versions of training materials will be made available 1-2 days prior to the start of the training.