Complex Ethical Dilemmas in Working with Forensic Populations

Description of Event and Learning Objectives:

Most ethical dilemmas in a psychologist’s work reflect the broader concerns of the field: alleviating distress, protecting confidentiality, promoting self-improvement, and maintaining integrity in one’s work. Such issues are frequent and potentially straightforward. But sometimes what happens on the fringes of clinical forensic psychology elicits the “textbook” dilemmas that seemingly only exist in suspense thrillers or medical dramas. 

• What if you – quite literally – know      where the bodies are buried?
• Is a person on death row who declines      chemotherapy for a treatable cancer making a rational decision?
• What if your client is low risk, but a      high-ranking politician (who funds your position) publicly declares that      your client will never be released?
• What do you do when your research, and      your testimony, contribute to bad legislation?

Part escape room of ethical reasoning and part mid-career retrospective, in this presentation Dr. Jill Stinson will present some challenging ethical dilemmas related to forensic matters. No need to have forensic experience – the goal is to think through some interesting and intricate dilemmas that involve unique client considerations, competing legal and political interests, questions of personal morality and values, multidimensional concerns for public and client safety, and the role of science in ethical clinical practice.

Learning objectives:

1. Participants will be able to describe recent changes to the Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA Title 63) related to      the practice of Clinical Psychologists.
2. Participants will review principles of ethical reasoning related to complex ethical challenges.
3. Participants will apply ethical reasoning to complex forensic cases and explore varying ways of responding in      accordance with professional and state ethics codes.

Meet the Presenters:

Dr. Jill D. Stinson is a licensed clinical psychologist and the Director of Clinical Training in the Department of Psychology at East Tennessee State University. She received her dual doctorate in Clinical Psychology and Psychology, Policy, and Law from the University of Arizona prior to serving as the Director of Sex Offender Treatment at Fulton State Hospital with the Missouri Department of Mental Health. Her research focuses on sex offenders with serious mental illness, personality disorders, self-regulatory problems, and histories of early childhood maltreatment, as well as issues related to sex offender community re-entry, stigma, and suicidality. Dr. Stinson has authored three books related to sex offender etiology, treatment, and motivation to engage in therapy. She serves as an Associate Editor for Sexual Abuse. She currently teaches undergraduate and graduate coursework in forensic psychology and ethics at ETSU.

Participant Skill Level:  Beginner to Intermediate Level

Fee:

IMPA Member:  No Cost  (Membership Dues Are Payable at Door for $35!)

Non-IMPA Members: $45 (for those not eligible for IMPA membership)

Students:  No Cost (please have valid Student ID)

Registration:

Please RSVP for the event by using this website.

Payment will be accepted at the door.

On-site registration starting at 8:30 a.m. 

We will be happy to accommodate special needs requests. We ask that you contact us at the IMPA email (impa.email@gmail.com) at least 1 week prior to the training event to ensure sufficient time to make any necessary arrangements. 

Continuing Education:

Frontier Health is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Frontier Health maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Participants will receive 3.0 hours of credit for attending. Variable credit may not be given per APA guidelines. Full attendance is required. 

Note that this program is designed to meet Tennessee continuing education requirements in the area of ethics for licensure renewal in psychology. 

PO Box 9054 Gray, Tennessee 37615 1-888-291-1935 www.frontierhealth.org