Psych in the City spotlights mental health
Jeni Koumoutsakis, SFU psychology, 778.782.3250; jkoumout@sfu.ca
Don Read, 778.782.3358; jdonread@sfu.ca
Carol Thorbes, PAMR, 778.782.3035; cthorbes@sfu.ca
Six Simon Fraser University psychologists will share their research on psychological factors that threaten the well being of society during Psych in the City, a popular lecture series at SFU Vancouver.
SFU’s psychology department will host the fifth annual, three-part lecture series on Wednesdays, April 13, 20 and 27, 7 to 9 p.m., at Fletcher Challenge Canada Theatre at Harbour Centre.
The free public lectures will delve into how psychological factors contribute to incarceration, the consequences of imprisonment, youth violence, wrongful convictions and elite athletic performance. An evening’s presentation will consist of two talks spotlighting a particular topic, followed by a question-and-answer period.
Ron Roesch and Don Read will kick off the lecture series by addressing, from different perspectives, the role mental disorder and psychological vulnerability can play in the prevalence of crime, wrongful convictions and rising prison populations.
“Offenders with mental disorders represent a highly disproportionate percentage of incarcerated individuals in our jails and prisons,” says Roesch, director of SFU’s Mental Health, Law and Policy Institute. “Often their illness is undetected when they are first incarcerated and is further exacerbated by imprisonment.”
Roesch says psychological professionals and researchers need to help governments develop policies that better detect and treat mental illness in first -time offenders, especially given government reliance on imprisonment as a solution to crime.
Meanwhile, Read, SFU psychology department chair, will examine psychological factors contributing to wrongful convictions, such as psychological vulnerability to investigative techniques, mistaken identifications, the use of police informants, disregarding honest alibis and investigative tunnel vision.
Read points to high-profile wrongful convictions of people such as Thomas Sophonow and Ivan Henry as examples of erroneous legal decisions based on a mix of these psychological factors.
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Backgrounder: Remaining 2011 Psych in the City lectures
April 20
Performance Enhancement and Clinical Issues in Contemporary Sport Psychology — Sports psychologist David Cox will review mental health issues as they relate to elite-level individual and team athletes trying to enhance their performance. Bob Ley, a clinical and forensic psychologist, will follow Cox’s explanation of how clinical intervention can help elite level athletes facing performance challenges with a discussion of such patients in his clinical practice.
April 27
Getting Tough on Youth Violence: Adult Time for Adult Crime? — Jodi Viljoen, assistant professor in clinical and forensic psychology, will look at the conundrum the legal system and the public face in trying to treat young offenders fairly, while still effectively deterring violent criminals. Viljoen will apply her 15 years of research examining policies and clinical practices pertaining to adolescent offenders to tackling tough questions: Is youth crime getting worse? Do we need to get tougher on young offenders?
Evidence Based Strategies for Preventing and Reducing Risk of Violent, Aggressive and Antisocial Behaviour in Children and Teens — Psychologist Marlene Moretti will discuss developmental paths to aggressive and antisocial behaviour in children and teens and the importance of early intervention. Moretti, a senior research chair from the Institute of Gender and Health at the Canadian Institutes of Research, will also evaluate existing programs to prevent or reduce youth violence and how parents can help foster their children’s mental health.
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