Trauma-informed forensic mental health assessment

Justice-involved individuals are subject to frequent, repeated and often intrusive assessment throughout their time in the justice and forensic mental health systems. The fact that these individuals often enter these systems with extensive trauma histories means that forensic assessors should seek to adopt a trauma-informed approach to assessment. In this chapter, the authors discuss how the trauma-informed principles of safety, trustworthiness, choice, and collaboration can be applied to forensic assessments. They also stress the importance of self-awareness and reflection, not only about counter-transferential reactions to trauma histories and the personal impact of this work, but also about the need to weigh up the potential positive and harmful consequences that can arise from engaging in assessments in forensic contexts.