LIVE: Cultural Considerations in Forensic Mental Health Assessment
October 2, 2025 - October 3, 2025 | 9:00 AM - 12:30 PM Pacific
October 2, 2025 - October 3, 2025
9:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Pacific
7 Hours | 7 CEs
$375 Registration | $350 Early Registration (through September 25th) | Live Virtual Training via Zoom
Amanda Fanniff, PhD, presents a live virtual professional training program on Cultural Considerations in Forensic Mental Health Assessment.
This badge-earning program can be shared digitally on platforms like LinkedIn or your resume and counts towards various certificates. Enroll to earn credit and share your new digital credentials with prospective employers and colleagues. This program counts as a foundational program in the certificates:
There is a clear ethical imperative for forensic evaluators to tailor their assessments to their examinees’ relevant identities. Mental health professionals have expressed the need for more specific guidance regarding culturally-informed forensic mental health assessment (FMHA) in several survey studies. Such guidance has started to be published in the last four years, including a Delphi poll seeking to establish agreed-upon best practices for culturally-informed FMHA (Fanniff et al., 2023).
The results of that study will be used to structure this training around five key components of FMHA:
Research findings and scholarly guidance are incorporated to provide action-oriented recommendations for practice. Participants will discuss the application of recommendations in break-out room discussions. Insights from attendees will be welcomed and incorporated into the full group presentation. The goal is for each person in attendance to leave the training with a plan for trying out several practices for culturally-informed FMHA in their upcoming evaluations.
This program is designed for individuals at all stages of their professional journey—whether you're a recent graduate, early-career clinician, or an experienced professional seeking to deepen your expertise in forensic mental health assessment. While the course emphasizes criminal forensic examples, the content is also highly applicable to civil court evaluations. It is relevant for those working in a variety of settings, including private practice, university clinics, state hospitals, correctional facilities, and other contexts where forensic evaluations are conducted.
Training Outline:
- Cultural competence (Whaley & Davis, 2007) Cultural humility (Hook et al., 2013)
- Key qualities of culturally responsive clinicians (Hays, 2016)
- Why this applies to all evaluators, not just white clinicians evaluating people of color
- APA Ethics Code standards
- Guidelines from forensic psychiatry and psychology organizations
- New standards for Race-Informed FMHA (Ratkalkar et al., 2023)
- What evaluators are doing now (current practice data)
- What board-certified forensic psychologists recommend (Fanniff et al., 2023)
- Competence: Ongoing training, self-reflection, cultural identity frameworks (e.g., ADDRESSING, RESPECTFUL)
- Language Proficiency: Choosing and working with translators, adjusting methods, handling trauma in non-native languages
- Referral & Prep: Knowing when to accept referrals, reviewing relevant policies, and ethical standards
- Interview & Assessment: Asking about race/ethnicity, assessing acculturation, test selection and adjustments
- Formulation: Factoring in racism, discrimination, colonialism, and cultural mistrust
- Report Writing: Explaining culturally relevant testing decisions, psychometric limitations, and contextualized findings
- Interactive breakouts & case discussions—including a Rohingya woman with psychotic symptoms undergoing CST evaluation.You’ll apply concepts in real time.
Intended Audience
This live program is intended for mental health and other allied professionals.
Experience Level
This live program is appropriate for beginner, intermediate, and advanced level clinicians.
CE / CPD Credit
APA, ASWB, CPA, NBCC: Click here for state and other regional board approvals.
Presented By
Amanda Fanniff, PhD
Amanda M. Fanniff, PhD, is an associate professor of psychology at Palo Alto University. Dr. Fanniff received her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Arizona. She completed her clinical internship at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Cente...
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this program you will be able to:
Identify at least two ethical guidelines that require mental health professionals to consider cultural considerations in conducting forensic mental health assessments (e.g., based on the American Psychology Association Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, the Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychology, and/or the American Psychiatric Association Ethics Code)
Describe at least one recommendation related to working with examinees with limited English language proficiency and will be able to give an example of how to apply that recommendation
Describe at least one recommendation for selecting and interpreting psychological tests in a culturally-informed manner and will be able to give an example of how to apply each recommendation
Describe two research findings regarding whether specific assessment tools show bias across race, gender, or language identity
Describe at least one recommendation for culturally-informed forensic formulation and will be able to give an example of how to apply that recommendation
Describe at least one recommendation for culturally-informed report writing and will be able to give an example of how to apply that recommendation
Live Event Policy
Registration for our live events is covered for one (1) person per purchase. If you would like to purchase for a group, please contact our group training team.
Event Communications
When registering, use an email that is active and that you check regularly. We are not responsible for communications not being received; if you do not add caps@paloaltou.edu to your email safe sender list, our emails are likely to end up in your spam or junk folders.
Cancellation Policy
Have a sudden change of plans and are unable to attend live? No worries; you will be given access to the on-demand version of the program once available. Please note if you attend live, no access to the recording will be given.
Event Conduct
Professional conduct is expected during our live programs. Our goal is to make our events as interactive as possible for all participants. We reserve the right to remove any participants who are disruptive, act unprofessionally, or who we are unable to verify their purchase.
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CE Credit
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Convenience & Flexibility
Learn at your own pace, from wherever you might be!
Earning Certificate
This is badge-earning course, which means it will help you earn a certificate that can be showcased on digital platforms like Linkedin.
CE Sponsorship Information
Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT) is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT) maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT) is approved by the Canadian Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT), SW CPE is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0356 and the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0073. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT) has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6811. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. CONCEPT Professional Training, #1480, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. CONCEPT Professional Training maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 11/22/23-11/22/26. Social workers completing this course receive (clinical or social work ethics) continuing education credits.