Tulane’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences has partnered with Eastern Louisiana Mental Health System (ELMHS) to provide psychiatric and forensic services to adults, and in turn, provide Tulane trainees an opportunity to learn and practice clinical and forensic skills in an inpatient forensic facility. Located in Jackson, Louisiana (approximately 2 hours northwest of New Orleans), ELMHS is the only forensic inpatient psychiatric facility in Louisiana which specializes in the custody, care, evaluation, and treatment of forensic patients who are incompetent to stand trial and/or found not guilty by reason of insanity (NGBRI). ELMHS is operated by the Louisiana Department of Health and the Louisiana Office of Behavioral Health.
ELMHS is an integrated system of mental health care designed to provide a wide array of services within a multi-faceted system. Maintained within ELMHS are 573 licensed inpatient psychiatric and forensic beds, affiliated community residential settings with over 261 licensed and residential beds, and an array of forensic outpatient services. ELMHS is accredited by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organization and certified by the Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services. The hospital is comprised of two divisions: the East Division and the Forensic Division. The East Division, which houses a number of forensic patients, has 334 beds and the Forensic Division has 239 beds.
Inpatient services are staffed by multidisciplinary treatment teams comprised of board-certified forensic psychiatrists, social services, and nursing services. Each patient participates in a treatment program based on their individual needs and interests which may include psychiatric medication, cognitive behavioral therapy, substance abuse treatment, competency restoration, individual and/or group therapy, sex offender treatment, work therapy, and assistance with permanent supported housing upon discharge.
The psychology intern will train in two inpatient facilities within ELMHS. The East Division of ELMHS consists of three units providing care to civilly committed patients requiring long term psychiatric care, three Adult Community Group homes, and three units that house forensically-involved patients, including pretrial and adjudicated (NGRI) patients. The Forensic Division of ELMHS is a 239-bed inpatient adult forensic psychiatric hospital. The Forensic Division provides evaluation and treatment, including competency restoration to pretrial forensic patients and insanity acquittees. ELMHS-Forensic consists of three specialized units: 1) The Admissions and Special Security Area (ASSA) 2) the Intermediate Treatment Unit (ITU), and 3) the Crossroads Rehabilitation Unit (CRU).
The intern is expected to provide the following services under the supervision of a licensed psychologist:
- Forensic evaluations and assessments, including initial psychological screenings, malingering evaluations, violence risk assessments, and intellectual, personality, and psychopathology screenings and comprehensive evaluations
- Produce integrated forensic reports suitable for use in court
- Oversight of Behavior Support Plans (BSPs)
- Group therapy (e.g., Moral Reconation Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis)
- Competency Restoration (individual and group)
- Individual therapy
- Umbrella supervision of a Masters-level therapist (if available)
- Psychological consultation
- Work as a member of a multidisciplinary team
The intern on the Forensic Adult Track will spend four (4) days per week at ELMHS (located in Jackson, Louisiana) throughout the year. Two (2) days at ELMHS will be spent providing assessment services and two (2) days will be spent providing forensic intervention services.
