Workshop: Advanced Training in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
This training on Advanced Training in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): A Comprehensive Review for Criminal Justice, Forensic Mental Health, and Legal Professionals is presented by Jerrod Brown, PhD.
Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are temporary or permanent alterations in brain functioning resulting from an open or closed wound to the head. Such an injury could be the result of an automobile accident, a sports-related impact, or victimization of violence like being punched in the head.
TBIs can range from mild to severe in nature and may result in a host of short and long-term impairments. Symptoms associated with TBI can be cognitive (e.g., confusion, language production and processing difficulties, irritability, and impulsivity) or physical (e.g., insomnia, headaches, nausea, and loss of consciousness). Deficits associated with TBI can also place an impacted individual at elevated risk for an array of mental health (e.g., anxiety and mood disorders), substance abuse, and education and employment problems.
In particular, individuals with TBIs are disproportionately likely to become entangled in the criminal justice system as either victims or perpetrators of crime. Once involved in the criminal justice system, individuals with TBIs are often ill equipped to (a) make important legal decisions during police interviews and trials, (b) assist in developing and mounting a legal defense, and (c) comply with the conditions of sentences in confined and community settings.
These difficulties place individuals with TBIs at risk for miscarriages of justice like false confessions and wrongful convictions as well as an increase in vulnerability and victimization. In light of these consequences, there is an immediate need to improve the identification of individuals with TBI through better screening and assessment practices in criminal justice, forensic mental health, and legal settings.
Once identified, evidence-based interventions have the potential to minimize the short- and long-term consequences of TBI. This advanced-level training is intended for professionals who work within the criminal justice, forensic mental health, and legal systems.