The 4th Annual Statewide Conference on Serving Offenders with Cognitive Impairments "Working with the Cognitively Impaired Offender: Effective Techniques and Tools" was held in Anchorage on March 11, 2009 and offered two separate tracts presented by two national experts.
The intermediate tract was presented by Dr. Alix McLearen primarily for participants currently working with offenders with cognitive impairments interested in learning how various organic disabilities impact criminal behavior. Sessions were tailored to help participants identify disability-related behaviors that may impede a person’s ability to successfully comply with treatment plans and provide strategies that best supports the offender’s natural skill sets to decrease recidivism.
James Haaven presented the advanced track for participants providing clinical case-management and therapeutic services to offenders with cognitive impairments in the community.This session required that the participants have extensive knowledge and experience working with offenders with various cognitive impairments to best understand the content provided participants will leave the conference with information as to what best practice model is most beneficial when working with specific organic disabilities and to access those models to further their own treatment and assessment skills.
Sponsored by grant funds provided by the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority in partnership with the UAA Center for Human Development to help increase the capacity for communities to serve Trust Beneficiaries who are Offenders to reduce recidivism and promote safe and healthy Alaskan communities.
The 3rd Annual Conference, "Working with Cognitively Impaired Offenders: Effective Techniques and Tools”, was held in Anchorage on April 2nd and 3rd, followed by a Strategic Planning Session on April 4th, 2008. There were two nationally recognized practicing presenters Gerry Blasingame and Daniel J. Tomasulo.
Sponsored by the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority in partnership with the UAA Center for Human Development to increase treatment capacity for offenders with cognitive impairments.
The two day conference, “Adapting Your Community Services to Support the Cognitively Impaired Offender”, was held in May 2007 in Anchorage. There were three national speakers: Dr. Ed Mikkelsen, Dr. Robin LeDue, and Dr. Peter Johnson.