I am looking forward to working with each of you in the weeks ahead. The forensic courses tend to be very exciting, including thought provoking educational material and subsequent lively discussions. 

Each quarter results in building a new and unique community within the class. In order to get things started, and to learn a little about each other, please be certain to answer the following 5 questions in your introductory Padlet post:
 
 1) Where you are geographically located 
 2) What interested you in taking this course 
 3) What, if any, experience do you have with working with victims/survivors of interpersonal violence/crime 
 4) What you hope to learn 
 5) Anything else you would like to share about yourself 

Also, as we build the community, please feel free to post one of your favorite photos. For example, this is a photo from a trip I took to Bolivia in 2011 with a team of healthcare consultants from Drexel CNHP. As a forensic healthcare clinician, my role was to work with forensic psychologists, public DAs/prosecutors and regional court judges regarding enhanced assessment of children exposed to sexual violence and the related judicial process.  In the photo below, I am working with children in the school room of their Domestic Violence Shelter/compound (located at over 16,500 thousand feet in the Andes mountain range!). Alpacas were everywhere and I fell in love with quinoa (which is basically eaten at every meal there…and now whenever I see it on a restaurant menu, I simply must have it!).
 
 I look forward to learning more about each of you.
 
 "See" you in class,
 Dr. C

I am Sharri Robinson and I live and work in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan area. I have had an interest in forensic nursing since undergrad. I have found in my nursing career that there are skills that I could develop in forensic training in the healthcare to better care for patients in the inpatient care setting. I have limited experience in working with survivors of interpersonal violence, but have had a few very impactful experiences in my inpatient acute care hospital setting. The most meaningful was a patient who was generally difficult each time she was hospitalized. Eventually after developing a rapport with her over time. On one of her multiple readmissions, she confided in me that she had a hard time being hospitalized and confined to her room as she had extreme anxiety related to claustrophobia. This was a result of being victimized for most of her childhood in which a large portion of this was being locked in a trunk. This changed my outlook on caring for “difficult” patients at that moment. 

I hope to learn to be a better-rounded clinician by learning skills and interventions for survivors of victimization as they interface with healthcare via multiple access points. Without training, identifying the special and sensitive needs for these patients may be overlooked thus doing a disservice to this already underserved patient population. I have some initial concern in maintaining balance between currently working in a nurse leader role on an inpatient care unit and completing course requirements. However, I am very excited about this class as forensics are certainly a strong interest of mine. I look forward to working with and getting to know everyone better!

Sharri

 

The mental health and forensic systems often overlap and I think it is important to have knowledge of both in order to treat either population. I have a fair amount of experience with the forensic population, as part of my role in the community has been to monitor adherence to medication for those patients on probation or parole, or under CYS investigation. I have testified in court on numerous occasions to speak to an offender’s or parent’s progress, or lack thereof. I have worked closely with both child and adult protective services to prevent the abuse, neglect, and exploitation of these vulnerable populations. Unfortunately, a large number of mental health patients have a history of victimization, more so than the number of patients with a criminal history. I find the psychology of the offender to be more interesting than the psychology of the victim. 

 

I have a particular interest in the treatment of sex offenders and those diagnosed with various types of paraphilia. Many people naturally react to pedophilia with horror and disgust (and it is horrifying and disgusting), but for some reason I have the tolerance and desire to work with this population. I believe that understanding their psychology and striving to help them would be a more effective means of preventing sex crimes than simply treating them like monsters and excluding them from society. 

 

I am always striving to learn more about the psychology of the offender, so I have been looking forward to this course for some time. I hope to utilize the course material to increase my competency in treating mental health patients who are dually involved in the forensic system. 

 

Nice to meet everyone!

I attached a picture of my goofy little dog, Rita. I rescued her from a schizophrenic lady's basement!

My name is Leanne and I live in Royersford, a town about 30 miles west of Philadelphia.  I am pursuing a family NP degree here at Drexel with plans to start clinicals this June.  I am taking this course as the final one for the forensic nursing certificate.  I took the first forensics class during the winter term last year and absolutely loved it, so I decided I would continue on.  While I do not have any professional working experience with victims or survivors, I have had some personal experiences with interpersonal violence and crime.  A number of my close friends have also been victims of various types, and I have always been interested in what makes a person do what they do.  Twenty plus years ago when I graduated high school, I began college as a psychology major because I enjoyed learning about what made people tick.  I supposed my interest in this type of class is an extension of that.  This quarter I hope to learn more about the mentality of perpetrators.  While there is not always a clear cut answer to why people do the things they choose to do, I want to learn about the ways people attempt to justify or rationalize their actions surrounding committing a crime.  One fun fact about me is that I have an obsession with my lawn due to a previous life working in landscaping.  I absolutely cannot wait for winter to be over so my grass will grow and I can get back to mowing it.  It is my therapy.  Good luck to all of you this quarter and in your future studies and careers.  

Below is a picture of my family taken last May for Mother’s Day

I’m happily married and my wife and I have two wonderful boys, age 2 ½ and 1. I’m working full time and going to school part time. I’m currently in the Acute Geriatric NP program. It’s been tough juggling family-work-school-personal life. However, so far so good. I look forward in working with you all.

Forensic Mental Health is something that I believe is interesting. I have not had any forensic mental health experiences other than the ones that are admitted critically.