The School of Social Work will hold a Kansas Law and Mental Health Forensics workshop from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 18 in the Dugan-Gorges Conference Center. It is co-sponsored by the Newman School of Social Work, the Institute for Kansas Forensic Examiners (IKFE), several local law firms, and the Oklahoma Psychological Association.
Assistant Professor of Social Work Gloria Hegge, Ph.D. explained that, “The workshop is designed to help train licensed professionals, such as attorneys, social workers, and psychologists, to provide expert testimony in court, by increasing the professionals’ knowledge of Kansas law. It is also open to the general public.”
Director of the School of Social Work Sue Ellen Gardner, Ph.D. said, “It is the first time that we have had a workshop on this topic at Newman University. This is a great opportunity for our students, alumni, faculty and the whole Newman community.”
The morning session will go from 8 a.m. to noon and will cover how Kansas protects constitutional rights, while the afternoon session will be from 1 to 5 p.m. and will cover different legal considerations such as sex crime victims, perpetrators, and foster care, to name a few. Both sessions will consider different aspects of the same problem: How do we control for biased evidence in Kansas courts?
Participants can choose to attend only the morning session or only the afternoon session.
All Newman students, faculty, staff and alumni are invited to attend free of charge. For all other attendees, this conference will cost $80. Also, Kansas licensed mental health professionals can receive eight continuing education credit units for attending.
For more information about the workshop go to the Institute for Kansas Forensic Examiners website.
