I'm going to advertise my own program U of Cincinnati.
Resnick does some teaching here, we got Doug Mossman who is a Guttmacher award winner, and is the head of the Weaver fellowship at the UC law school (They just started a joint class between the law fellows and the forensic fellows at UC this year.) John Kennedy-an AAPL best teacher award winner, Vic Bressler-a national expert on forced confessions (among several other forensic areas), and they give the fellows private forensic work.
I've interviewed at some of the programs mentioned above among others. IMHO the best ones are...
Case Western
MGH
U Mass
U of Cincinnati
Tulane
Albert Einstein (NYC)
I haven't heard much about UC-Davis, though if Samson has heard good things I'd definitely take that as info from a good source.
I can definitely mention ones I've seen I was not impressed with--but since the forensic world is very small, my mention of them would get me some flack. I will mention that several programs will not teach the fellows any of the psychometric testing used in forensic cases. This is a big time disadvantage if you go to court, and the other side has someone who is using psychometric testing and you have no way to counter it. You may look like an idiot on the stand if that happens. Several of the tests I'm talking about are--the Georgia Competency test, the Mac-CAT, the SIRS, the TOMMS, among others, (of the programs I've seen that teach psychometric testing--U Mass, Case Western & UCincinnati do this)
Several forensic programs are in superb psychiatry programs, but the fellowship itself is not impressive. Without naming names, some programs where I interviewed were at top psychiatry departments, yet they didn't have any knowledge or experience with psychometric testing which gave me a little "WTF?" thought in my brain during the tour and interview. Point-just because the residency program is good, doesn't mean the forensic fellowship is good. E.g. Case Western which is a fine program, but not as big in reputation as some other programs with a forensic fellowship. Yet its fellowship program is far better vs other fellowships located at psych departements with a bigger reputations than Case Western's program. In fact I've seen some fellowships at "top" residency programs that I thought were mediocre if not worse.
Some programs also have top forensic psychiatrists attached to the department, but those people aren't teaching. This IMHO adds very little to the fellowship experience. Yeah--big guy is down the hallway, but he won't talk to you or teach you. Or big guy who has a solid reputation, and he does teach, but he can't teach well.
The PD is very important. The reason being is that all fellowships only have 1-5 fellows in it, and their contact with the PD is very intimate, and often. Of the programs I've seen where the fellows felt their PD was top notch--Case Western, UCincinati, Albert Einstein, U of Rochester (headed by Ciccone, a pioneer in the field), Tulane, U of Wisconsin. I have heard of fellowships where the fellows couldn't stand their PD (but I will not mention them). Its also very important you make sure you will get along with your PD since you will answer to him/her and quite often. I have heard of some colleagues who didn't get along with their PD, and their year was hell, and the teacher-student relationship was toxic.
(Out of all the NYC programs, I have heard the most and best positive comments with Albert Einstein's PD. I was told he made it a personal point to help his fellows as best as he could. I was even told by friends in other NYC fellowships to forget the program they were in--just go for Einstein).
There are plenty of programs where you will have to commute for several hours a day. The reason being is that the fellowship is located in a posh university setting, but you will have to work in a prison which could be hours away, and you will ahve to commute there and back everyday. City planners often times put the prison in a less desirable area. 6 of the 8 programs where I interviewed wanted me to drive over 3 hrs a day. Some of them wanted me to drive about 5 hrs a day (no joke). (advertisement--UCincinnati's forensic facility is about 20 minutes away from the fellowship office)
The quality of the facility is important. Several forensic fellowships will have you working in something on the order of a dungeon. Some have built state of the art facilities (cameras everywhere, personal safety alarm buttons etc) That is very important because your personal safety will be at stake when you are interviewing someone who has a felony conviction such as aggravated assault, aggravated arson or murder. (UCincinnati has a state of the art facility.)
Some programs are research powerhouses. U Mass is one. They have the fellows do plenty of research. Some programs emphasize more clinical, private and court experience. Some are on this order to a higher level--they follow the clinical/private/court experience on the order of federal court, national cases, and cases where the forensic psychiatrist is asked to give testimony outside their usual state of practice because that organization's reputation is of a higher order. UCincinnati and Case Western are on this order. Resnick for example has worked on the most famous cases across the country in various states.
Another factor is gauging the complexity of the legal issues the fellowship will allow. National/Federal court cases, psychological autopsies, sanity evaluations, expert witness evaluations on the stand, and malpractice cases are some of the bigger and tougher cases to work on. Several programs will not allow exposure to these cases. Others will only do small things--which are actually very available in regular psychiatric fellowships. E.g. one fellowship I saw had 1/2 their time seeing patients in an ER and petitioning them for involuntary commitment or not. I spent over 1000 hrs already doing that in residency. I sure as heck didn't need to go to a fellowship that was just going to have me do something I did in residency.
Most programs will pay for the fellow's AAPL convention costs, and make them take the AAPL review course (this is a good thing). I do know of a few programs that do not do this.
are there enough employment opportunities for a forensic psychiarist to solely work in the civil arena?
also, do you need to complete a child and adolescent psych fellowship to become a pediatric forensic psychiatrist, or is it possible to do a concentration in child forensics during your forensic psych fellowship?
any input would be appreciated. thanks.
Working solely in the civil area is a tough call. Doing purely private work has no safety net, no insurance plan, and lack of structure. It can be done, but its tough to get started. you'll have to make relationships with the local lawyers. This can take years. If there's other forensic psychiatrists in the area, they may see you as competition and try to nix you. Others I've seen have become the defense attorney's hired gun, and the pressure to be a hired gun may go up if you are having problems finding private work.
I cannot answer the 2nd question you mentioned. There is no specific pediatric forensic psychiatrist that's officially recognized as such as far as I know. I do know that my PD is a child psychiatrist, and in his opinion you do need the child fellowship training to do forensic evaluations on children.
) and I'd like to find out more about the reputations of forensics fellowships. Which ones are well-known as being top-notch? Are there any places that stand out as providing excellet forensic psych exposure while also giving one a well-rounded legal background? Additionally, are there any residencies that allow for forensics exposure or provide rotations in forensics for the residents?
