Issues and Innovations in Mental Health Related to Criminal Justice

ALL SESSIONS ARE CLOSED CAPTIONED AND WILL BE RECORDED AND MADE AVAILABLE TO REGISTERED ATTENDEES WITHIN 24-48 BUSINESS HOURS AT THE OTLEARN PORTAL.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

This on-camera conversation between occupational therapists and psychologists will explore current issues related to mental health in criminal justice. The speakers, experts in their practice areas, will discuss timely issues and responsive innovations in prevention, health, mental health, and social and occupational justice for this population. Their observations and insights will resonate with and inspire practitioners in the field.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Identify and reflect upon current issues and innovations impacting criminal justice dynamics for individuals, populations, and communities. 
• Describe and apply strategies that improve the process and dynamics of criminal justice services. 

SPEAKERS

Robert Thomson Kinscherff, PhD, JD 
Executive Director, Harvard - Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Law, Brain and Behavior  
Professor, Clinical Psychology Department, William James College 
Faculty, Children and Families of Adversity and Resilience Concentration and Forensic Psychology Concentration, William James College

Robert Kinscherff serves as the Executive Director of the Center for Law, Brain and Behavior at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. Prior to joining the Center for Law, Brain and Behavior (CLBB), Kinscherff was Associate Vice President (Community Engagement) and Professor (Doctoral Clinical Psychology Program) at William James College. He has been affiliated with CLBB for several years, serving as Associate Managing Director of the Juvenile and Young Adult Justice Project and now as Executive Director. He was the 2015-2017 Senior Fellow in Law & Applied Neuroscience at CLBB and The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School. Over recent years, he has been on the planning committee and faculty for federal judicial training jointly presented through the Federal Judicial Center, CLBB, and Harvard Law School.  

He was a contributor to the amicus brief submitted to the US Supreme Court by the American Psychological Association (APA) in Roper v. Simmons (2005) and has been involved in bringing science to juvenile and criminal justice reform since that time. As a fellow of the APA, Kinscherff’s service has included Chair of the Ethics Committee, Chair of the Committee on Legal Issues, and Board of Professional Affairs. He has also held prominent roles in APA projects involving public health approaches to gun violence, mass shootings, juvenile solitary confinement, developing practice, and liaison to the American Bar Association.  

Between 2008 and 2021, he served as a Senior Consultant for the National Center for Youth Opportunity and Justice (previously the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice), where he worked on several MacArthur Foundation Models for Change projects.  

Kinscherff has held leadership positions in Massachusetts state government and the trial court, as well as teaching, professional service, and policy advisory/development positions that reflect interests at the intersections of law, policy, applied neuroscience, and clinical/forensic behavioral science. His practice areas include juvenile and adult offenders, post-Miller resentencing and parole cases, expert testimony, violence risk assessment and management, law, and policy in justice system reforms and gun violence policy, and the impact of adversities, resiliencies, and social determinants in child, adolescent, and young adult development. 

Lisa Jaegers, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA 
Associate Professor 
Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy 
Saint Louis University 
Founder, Transformative Justice Initiative 
Director, OT Transition and Integration Services 
Facilitator, Justice Based Occupational Therapy Network

Lisa Jaegers, PhD, has extensive experience with criminal justice and public health interventions and related research in jails and prisons to reduce social inequities. Jaegers directs the Transformative Justice Initiative (TJI) within the Office of Mission and Identity at Saint Louis University (SLU). Within TJI the Occupational Therapy Transition and Integration Services reentry program that Jaegers directs and has sustained with the City of St. Louis Division of Corrections since 2015. Jaegers co-directs the National Corrections Collaborative, a network of corrections leaders and researchers working together to advance research and workplace health promotion for correctional worker populations. She serves as Associate Director of the SLU Health Criminology Research Consortium, helping to coordinate an interdisciplinary research network, and she facilitates the international Justice-based Occupational Therapy network to advance occupational justice. Jaegers is an educator and teaches master’s and doctoral students in occupational science, research, and occupational therapy community practice coursework. She has published manuscripts in journals spanning criminology, public health, occupational science, and epidemiology. Jaegers is an Associate Professor in the Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy, Doisy College of Health Sciences. She holds a secondary appointment in the School of Social Work and Criminology, College for Public Health and Social Justice at Saint Louis University, where she also completed her doctoral studies in public health with an emphasis in behavioral science and health education. 

SPONSORED BY:

William James College: Issues and Innovations in Mental Health Lunch and Learn Series 

Earn up to 1.00 contact hour.