The International Association of Forensic Mental Health (IAFMHS) 2023 Conference held in Sydney, Australia focused on the Reintegration and Recovery among People in Forensic Mental Health and Criminal Legal Systems.
Dr. Anne Crocker chaired a symposium on The National Trajectory Project-Community (NTP-C): A National Study of Opportunities and Obstacles to Successful Community Reintegration of Canadian Forensic Psychiatric Patients with presentations by Dr. Tonia Nicholls and Andrew Gray. The symposium summarised preliminary findings of the NTP-C with three presentations. The NTP-C is a national study of opportunities and obstacles to successful community reintegration of Canadian forensic psychiatric patients.
Dr. Crocker’s speech on The NTP-C: Objectives and Methods acknowledged the limitations of the NTP and how the NTP-C aims to rectify its issues. The NTP’s limitation to 3 provinces was increased to 6 (and a small subset of cases from one of the three territories) in the NTP-C. Dr. Crocker outlined the nature and representativeness of the sample.
Dr. Nicholls’ presentation on The NTP-C: Psychosocio-criminological Characteristics of People found NCRMD in Canada focused on the psychosocio-criminological characteristics of the ~1400 individuals examined. She compared provincial data regarding the individual’s characteristics (age at the time of verdict, age at time of hospital admission, nationality, relationship status, length of stay etc.).
Dr. Gray focused on The NTP-C: Rehospitalisation and the Predictive Vailidity of the PCL-R, VRAG, HCR-20 and Risk/Need Factors among NCRMD-Accused in Ontario, Canada. His research using the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG), Historical-Clinical-Risk-20 (HCR-20) and risk/need factors, found the average hospitalisation as well as outcomes associated with them. He calls for further data analysis to examine predictive validity.
We are so thankful to IAFMHS for giving us a platform to share our research with leaders of the field and are very excited for the conference in San Francisco later this year.
Read more about the NTP here!