The Georgetown University Hospital Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship is a one year full-time PGY-5 training program (a two-year half-time training program will be considered for qualified applicants with a need for a half-time program). The fellowship is designed to train board eligible or board certified psychiatrists who have previously completed their general psychiatry residency and who wish to prepare for the sub-specialty of forensic psychiatry. The program will provide comprehensive training in the interface of Law and Psychiatry, and how each influences the other. Social issues of common interest to law and psychiatry will also be addressed in the program, e.g. trans-institutionalization of the mentally ill, the death penalty, substance abuse, and childhood neglect and abuse.
The program will have a comprehensive formal didactic curricula covering the principles and foundations of forensic psychiatry in both law and science of human behavior. The program also emphasizes teaching of expertise in the performance of forensic evaluations. Skills will include both the treatment of the populations of mentally ill involved in the criminal justice system, people with addictive disorders in the legal system and children with behavioral problems who find themselves in juvenile detention facilities. Additionally, those skills associated with the legal system relating to the performing of evaluations, detection of malingering, writing of forensic reports, the presentation of those reports and effectively testifying in court will be covered in the curricula. Regular individual supervision, participation in case presentations and participation in court hearings will train the resident to effectively present psychiatric information to an audience of varying sophistication.
The core goals and objectives for the program, running through the core competencies, are:
1. The fellows
will attain expert understanding and knowledge of the legal decisions, statutes
and fundamentals governing the civil and criminal justice systems, and their
practical applications in the
2. The fellows will learn the multiplicity of interactions between law and psychiatry; the emergence and development of legal principles and trends regulating psychiatric practice; and the role of forensic psychiatry in the evolution of legal standards.
3. The fellows will develop expertise in forensic evaluations of a variety of subjects who represent a broad range of mental disorders and circumstances in both civil and criminal contexts. They will acquire understanding of special diagnostic and treatment issues and procedures in forensic psychiatry and will be able to perform risk assessments. They will develop skills to effectively communicate the results of their evaluations in the legal system settings.
4. The fellows will attain extensive clinical experience in the treatment of persons involved in the criminal justice system, both pretrial and post-trial, and will develop perspectives and skills in the formulation of policies and procedures involving system-based management of the subject group, such as the diversion of mentally ill from criminal justice system to mental health system.
5. The fellows will gain expertise in consultation to general psychiatric services on issues related to the legal regulation of psychiatric practice such as civil commitment, confidentiality, elder abuse, child abuse, refusal of treatment, decision-making competence, and guardianship.
6. The fellows will develop skills in developing, designing and conducting scholarly research.
