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Forensic psychologists & immigration law
June 29th, 2016Speaker: Julia McLawsen, PhD
Greg McLawsenManaging AttorneySound Immigration
@mclawsen [email protected] www.soundimmigration.com
Julia McLawsen, PhD
Licensed Psychologist (WA)Registered Psychologist (BC –
inactive)
[email protected] www.lawandpsychology.com
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Roadmap
What is a “forensic” psychologist?
01
02 Letter of support v. evaluation
03 Elements of an evaluation
04 Objective testing instruments
05 Hardship waivers
06 VAWA, U-Visas & 751 waivers
07 Drug/alcohol abuse
08
page 4
Self-harm inadmissibility
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Therapist/Counselor
• Not always a state-licensed title• Focus: providing treatment
Social Worker• BASW or MSW degree • LICSW, state-licensed• No required legal training •Broad professional focus
“Regular” psychologist
•State license required• PhD or PsyD (MA sometimes)•Focus: behavioral health
1 – What is a forensic psychologist?
page 5
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Letter of support vs. evaluation
Summarizes provider’s relationship with client
Opinion based on familiarity with client
No special data collected for letter
Author partisan to client
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“Letter of support”
Responds to legal referral issue
Opinion based on evidence-based clinical assessment
Data collected specifically for the legal referral issue
Author’s goal is to be objective
Evaluation
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Psychological testing• Personality/cognition• Symptom inventories • Validity testing
Diagnostic formulation
• Symptoms, impairments• Narrative • DSM-5 diagnosis
Forensic analysis• How does clinical data
relate to the referral question?
• Academic reesarch • Recommendations
3 – Elements of an evaluation
Summary of referral issue
• Relevant legal standard • How is evaluation
helpful?
Clinical interview• Mental status/behavioral
observations• Psycho-social, cultural history
Collateral sources• Records• Consultations
page 7
Objective tests give results independent of the
psychologist’s beliefs, biases or expectations
Objective testing
•PAI (Personality Assessment Inventory) • MMPI-2-RF (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) • MCMI-IV (Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory) • TSI-2 (Trauma Symptom Inventory) • Victoria Symptom Validity Test • M-FAST (Miller Forensic Assessment of Symptoms Test) • TOMM (Test of Memory Malingering) • WAIS-IV (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale)
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Working with a forensic psychologist
help me help you
page 9
Examples of ImmigrationEvaluations
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Hardship Waivers
page 11
Whether denial of a waiver application would (1) cause (2) a qualifying relative to (3) experience a magnitude of hardship (4) that substantially exceeds the magnitude of hardship an average individual would be expected to suffer if their ken was denied such a waiver.
McLawsen, McLawsen & Ruser, A STATISTICAL STUDY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL
EVALUATIONS IN HARDSHIP WAIVERS OF INADMISSIBILITY (Benders 2011)
Findings
1. Appeals with evaluations are more likely to be decided favorably.
2. Diagnosis per se does not predict success.
3. History of mental health problems correlates with success.
4. Number of meetings with evaluator not predictive.
5. Somatization was correlated with positive outcome.
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Hardship Waivers
• Who is/are the Qualifying Relative(s)?• How do you think I can help you prove hardship? • Country conditions – not my expertise!• Do you have a theory for why relocation is infeasible? • If you have records, let me see them!
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VAWAU-VisasI-751 abuse waivers
Domains of trauma symptoms
1. Re-experiencing traumatic events.
2. Avoiding situations that trigger re-experiencing.
3. Emotional reactivity. 4. Problems with
cognition and mood.
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Alcohol/drug abuse
page 16
Understanding drug/alcohol
abuse diagnoses
Factors tending to show remission
1. Evidence based treatment function of abuse?
2. Active participation targeting use patterns?
3. Lifestyle changes? 4. Relapse
prevention plan?5. Accountability?
Self harm
Intake questions for self-harm
1. Have you even been in therapy?
2. Have you ever intentionally hurt yourself?
3. If so, when?4. Get a release of
information for all mental health records.
Referral questions for self-harm
evaluation
1. Does client current meet dX criteria for mental disorder?
2. Describe the nature and severity of self-harmful behavior.
3. What is the likelihood of future self-harmful behavior?
4. Will treatment reduce likelihood of future harm?
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