The 39th Annual Ohio Forensic Centers Continuing Education Conference
Co-sponsored by the Association of Ohio Forensic Evaluation Centers and the Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services, Office of Forensic Services
Cultural Competence and Managing Biases
June 28 & 29, 2017
At Embassy Suites, Dublin, Ohio, 5100 Upper Metro Place, Dublin, OH 43017
For Forensic Center Staff/Affiliates and Poster Presenters registration is free for both days but you must pre-register.
If you are not affiliated with a forensic center, registration is $250 for the two-day conference and includes CEs, CLEs, and CMEs, and continental breakfast and lunch on Wednesday, and continental breakfast on Thursday. Registration for Wednesday only is $175 and includes continental breakfast and lunch. For Thursday only is $75 and includes continental breakfast. $50 for students on both days (no single day rate) and includes continental breakfast on both days and lunch on Wednesday.
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Registration opens at 8:30 a.m.; Program Starts at 10:00 a.m.; Lunch at noon; Break 3:00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.; Program ends at 5:30 p.m.; Poster Presentations 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Cultural Competence in Forensic Assessments – Presenter Carla Dreyer, Psy.D.
Overview: Participants will learn about the importance of cultural competency in forensic evaluations, and how to clarify when cultural variables should be considered in forensic assessments.
Carla Dreyer, Ph.D. earned her bachelor’s degree from Albion College (Michigan) in 1997. She subsequently obtained her master’s degree (1999) and doctorate (2002) from Xavier University (Ohio). Dr. Dreyer began working as a psychology assistant at the Court Clinic Forensic Services in 1998, when she was a graduate student. After obtaining her doctorate, she completed her post-doctoral training at the Court Clinic before she obtained her license as a psychologist (2003). She has since remained at the Court Clinic, most recently as the Clinical Director. In addition to her work at the Court Clinic, Dr. Dreyer maintains a private practice and contract position through the Hamilton County Juvenile Court. She has conducted a variety of evaluations throughout the years, with a particular interest in competency to stand trial and risk assessments.
Challenges of Cultural Variables in Forensic Assessments: A Panel Discussion – Presenter/Moderator of Panel Discussion Carla Dreyer, Ph.D.
Panelists: Steve Sparks, Ph.D., ABPP, Michael Aronoff, Psy.D., Emily Davis, Ph.D., Jamie Adkins, Ph.D.
Jaime Adkins, Ph.D. is a psychologist who has conducted a wide variety of criminal forensic evaluations. She has worked for Netcare Forensic Center completing forensic assessments since 2010. She also does forensic evaluations for District Forensic Diagnostic Center and the Forensic Diagnostic Center of District 9.
Emily Davis, Ph.D., is a staff psychologist with the Court Clinic Forensic Services in Cincinnati, Ohio. She has been in this position since January 2006, previously completing her post-doctoral year of training through this forensic center (2005). She completed her doctoral training (2004) through the University of Denver. In addition to completing court ordered evaluations through Court Clinic, she also does evaluations for the Hamilton County Juvenile and Dependency Courts, including evaluations requested by caseworkers with Hamilton County Department of Jobs and Family Services (DJFS). She also has history of completing evaluations as ordered by the Hamilton County Juvenile Court and the Butler County Children Services Board (BCCSB).
Michael H. Aronoff, Psy.D. is presently the Chief of Psychology of the Cuyahoga County Court Psychiatric Clinic (Cleveland, Ohio), Clinical Director of the Developmental Disability program for the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Probation Department and a consultant to the Cleveland Municipal Court Psychiatric Clinic and other Common Pleas and Municipal Courts in Northeast Ohio. He serves as Associate Director of the Cuyahoga County Court Psychiatric Clinic from 1996-2001. He obtained his doctoral degree in clinical psychology from Nova University. In 1992, he completed a post-doctoral fellowship in forensic/correctional psychology at Wright University. Following this, he was employed as a forensic examiner at the Netcare Forensic Center in Columbus, Ohio. He has been active in forensic psychology on a statewide level, serving as Vice President of the Association of Ohio Forensic Psychiatric Center Directors in 1998, and as President in 1999 and 2000. He also has a faculty appointment at Case Western Reserve University as a Clinical Instructor in the School of Medicine.
Steve Sparks, Ph.D., ABPP completed is undergraduate education at the University of Notre Dame, graduating Magna Cum Laude. He earned his Master’s and Doctoral Degree at the University of Cincinnati. He is board certified in forensic psychology with the American Boar of Professional Psychology. Dr. Sparks was formerly the Director of Forensic Services at Forensic and Mental health Services, Inc., in Butler County, Ohio. He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at College of Mount St. Joseph where he teaches Forensic Psychology. His research has been published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology and the Ohio Psychologist. His book chapter: Creating and Sustaining an Assessment/Forensic –Based Practice was published in 2017 by Routledge Taylor and Francis in the book The Resilient Mental Health Practice. He is Past President of the Board of Directors of the Cincinnati Academy of Professional Psychology. He maintains private practices in Ohio and Kentucky.
Overview: Participants will develop a better understanding of how to complete a culturally competent forensic evaluation.
Military Culture and Forensic Issues – Presenter Marjorie Kukor, Ph.D.
Overview: Participants will learn about military culture and factors to consider when performing forensic evaluations on those with military service.
Marjorie Kukor, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist at Twin Valley Behavioral Healthcare, one of Ohio’s state residential psychiatric hospitals. She works on a forensic/acute unit, where she provides brief stabilization for acutely psychotic patients, individual and group interventions, and assessments as indicated. She also is forensically trained, providing violence and suicide risk assessments for patients, as well as conducting competency, sanity, post-NGRI and Conditional Release evaluations at the hospital along with competency restoration instruction. Dr. Kukor chairs the Trauma Informed Care (TIC) workgroup and the Wellness committee at the hospital, and is a member of their Strategic Planning committee and Behavior Therapy committee. Additionally, she is a TIC trainer for the State of Ohio, and a Tier One instructor for the Star Behavioral Healthcare Provider (SBHP) program, which provides training and support for mental health professionals who work with service members, veterans and their families.
Prior to her work at Twin Valley, Dr. Kukor was the national Senior Associate for the Services to the Armed Forces (SAF) for the American Red Cross, where among other projects, she oversaw the completion and roll-out of their Reconnection Workshop program, a no-cost series of workshops for service members, veterans and their loved ones that addressed post-deployment reintegration. She also contributed to their Coping with Deployment training, and continues to be a subject matter expert for SAF, as well as training mental health volunteers and providing workshops to military participants across the country. Dr. Kukor also has worked in academia as an associate professor, visiting scholar and adjunct professor; as a clinical supervisor for Ohio’s Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections; as an evaluator/clinician for the St. Louis Consultation Center (a treatment center for religious personnel); and in women’s healthcare, developing and conducting research on doula support, and other pre-, peri-, and post-natal issues. A trauma-informed approach has been key in all her work.
Dr. Kukor has been a volunteer for the American Red Cross for over 16 years, in several departments (Disaster, SAF and Public Education). She volunteers as needed, and has been involved in program development at both the local and national level, as well as being a subject matter expert for various projects. She is the Disaster Response Network Coordinator for Ohio for the American Psychological Association, which works closely with the Red Cross on disaster issues. In addition to her ARC work, Dr. Kukor is a member of the Ohio Crisis Response Team (OCRT), and is the current president of the Central Ohio Psychological Association.
Thursday, June 29, 2017
Registration opens at 8:00 a.m.; Program Starts at 8:30 a.m.; Break at 10:00 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.; Program ends at 12:30 p.m.
Addressing Bias: Awareness, Normalization and Resilience Strategies (Parts 1 & 2)
Presenters Julia King, Psy.D., MBA. and Jen Wright, B.A., MBA, ERYT500
Overview Part 1: Participants will learn how to articulate biases in forensic evaluations and manage cultural biases during a forensic assessment.
Overview Part 2: Participants will learn how to create a personalized debiasing plan.
Julia King, Psy.D., MBA earned her doctorate in clinical psychology (Psy.D.) and MBA from Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in forensic psychology with the University of Cincinnati’s Institute for Psychiatry and Law. She subsequently became the Director of Forensic Services at a certified Forensic Center, and served as President, and Chair of the Education Committee, for the Association of the Ohio Forensic Psychiatric Center Directors.
Dr. King left the Center for private practice, providing forensic psychological assessments and organizational consulting services. More recently, however, she scaled back her forensic practice, obtained certification as a Registered Yoga Teacher, and launched a clinical psychology practice, offering the option to incorporate yoga and meditation with empirically-based therapy approaches.
Jen Wright, MBA, ERYT500 is a founding partner at REAL Human Performance and specializes in stress management, performance optimization and resiliency training. She serves those that serve, and she spent over a decade facilitating human performance optimization strategies at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Defense Sciences Office and later the Air Force Research Laboratory, Human Performance Wind prior to directing local program and clinical research of chronic stress and resiliency skills.
While working in post-9/11 environment, Ms. Wright researched and integrated alternative practices personally and professionally. Seeing an ever-evolving connections between medical and alternative treatments, Ms. Wright secured grants to further the clinical understanding and outcomes of the mind-body interventions. She brought Mindful Yoga Therapy (MYT) to Cincinnati and as a VA Research Associate, she instructs trauma-informed programs across Cincinnati VA facilities, including clinical research trials at VA Medical Center Trauma Recovery Center (residential PTSD and TBI programs), substance abuse recovery facilities for veterans in transition and outpatient programs for VA Mental Healthcare, Women’s Health and Hamilton County Veterans Treatment Court. She instructs and leads evaluation studies of self-care protocols for mental health professionals as well as resilience skills to professional organizations like the NFL and the Cincinnati Bar Association. Ms. Wright’s work is featured across local and national news outlets including the Huffington Post and NPR.
CMEs for Psychiatrist; CEUs for Psychologists, Social Workers, Counselors, and Nurses; and CLEs for Attorneys have been approved. These continuing education credits for nurses, psychologists, counselors, social workers, pharmacists, lawyers, and physicians will satisfy the required hours for Forensic-related training for Ohio Forensic Centers.