Optimizing Competency Restoration Treatment as Usual (January 26, 2026) | VIRTUAL

The Institute of Law, Psychiatry, and Public Policy presents:

Optimizing Competency Restoration Treatment as Usual | January 26, 2026 from 12-3:00PM (EST) | Virtual

Note: This workshop is not just for psychologists, but for anyone who provides restoration services.

Half-Day Workshop Summary

This half-day workshop is designed as an introduction to competency restoration treatment as usual (TAU), with a focus on recommended/best practices. Historical and contextual factors (e.g., case law, the competency crisis) will be discussed, with a focus on practical considerations for competency restoration. The speakers will introduce frameworks and recommendations for competency restoration intervention planning, referrals for post-restoration competency evaluations, change of venue recommendations, and documentation. The speakers will also introduce strategies for optimizing competency restoration efforts for defendants in inpatient and outpatient (jail- and community-based) settings. 

Full Workshop Description

These two half-day workshops provide forensic clinicians with novel, evidence-informed, practical intervention strategies for facilitating competence restoration. Restoration has historically relied heavily on psychiatric medication to reduce acute symptoms—an essential but incomplete approach. For example, while medication effectively treats many psychotic symptoms, it does not directly teach defendants the legal knowledge they need, nor does it build the cognitive skills and metacognitive abilities required for sustained competence. Simply providing legal education likewise falls short for defendants whose delusional thinking, impaired reasoning, or cognitive deficits prevent them from meaningfully processing and applying that information.

Unlike traditional approaches that rely primarily on "treatment as usual" restoration (psychotropic medication and “legal education” training, such as variations of CompKit), this workshop equips participants with a clinical framework for treatment planning, and introduces clinical practices to target barriers to competence. These approaches can complement medication interventions, and offer crucial alternatives for defendants who decline pharmacological intervention. By equipping defendants with durable skills rather than temporary symptom suppression, these interventions address multiple goals simultaneously: achieving restoration, reducing recidivism, preventing psychiatric decompensation after return to jail, and ultimately disrupting the revolving door between untreated mental illness, arrest, and re-arrest that drives the current competency crisis. For example, research shows that cognitive remediation and CBTp not only improve competence-relevant abilities but are also associated with reduced aggression and improved long-term functioning—benefits that may extend well beyond the restoration period.

Participants will learn to conceptualize competence restoration through a transdiagnostic, deficit-focused framework that moves beyond diagnostic categories to address specific functional impairments in factual understanding, rational understanding, and ability to assist counsel. The workshop emphasizes interventions drawn from cognitive remediation (CogRem), and metacognitive training (MCT), cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), cognitive behavior therapy for psychosis (CBTp), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), and broader approaches to address criminogenic thinking and mental illness—all adapted specifically for the forensic restoration context.

Through case examples, demonstrations, and interactive exercises, participants will gain practical skills in: identifying competence-related deficits; selecting and tailoring interventions to impairments; implementing evidence-informed practices; and measuring progress toward restoration. This workshop directly addresses the gap between what we know about serious mental illness and cognitive deficits and what we should implement in restoration protocols.

Learning Objectives

By the conclusion of this workshop, attendees will be able to:

1. Describe at least three evidence-based intervention techniques for treating symptoms and deficits that interfere with competence.
2. Identify appropriate interventions to target specific restoration deficits.
3. Design individualized, transdiagnostic treatment plans that address multiple overlapping deficits (e.g., psychosis and cognitive impairment).

Continuing Education

Participants can recieve up to 3 hours of continuing education credits (CEs) through the ILPPP, which is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor contining education for psychologists. ILPPP maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be sent a Qualtrics survey link to evaluate the training. While completion of the evaluation is not required to be awarded your continuing education credits, we would greatly appreciate your feedback.

$125.00 Standard Registration

$100.00 Group Registration (5+ people)*

We strongly recommend attending both days of this training. For those attending both days, use the discount code BOTHDAYS1 when registering for this half day. If registering for both days, the total registration fee is $225.

*If you are registering a group of people, please use this promo code to get the reduced price: GROUP1