Working with the City Attorney's Office, Dr. Debra Warner and her Los Angeles Campus Forensic Psychology students have begun a series of weekly trainings about mental illness targeted to prosecution and defense attorneys. The trainings, which take place in Los Angeles County courtrooms, received California State Bar approval earlier this year allowing participants to receive continuing education credits. Upcoming topics include substance abuse, ethics, and understanding Schizophrenic defendants or clients.

"I have received much positive feedback from the training experience from the participants," said Dr. Warner. "I think this is a great reflection of the education and supervision the students are receiving because the participants have never made a distinction between me and the students. Participants always use the word 'team.' As a teacher, I am extremely proud of how the students are growing as professionals from this opportunity."

The project is another component of Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) that Dr. Warner started this semester. Targeted to professionals in government, social services, and community-based institutions, CIT topics include mental illness recognition, substance abuse, and psychotropic medications, domestic violence, diversity issues, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, suicide and risk assessment, and crisis intervention skills. The CIT training also will incorporate workshops on leadership, management, stress reduction, motivation and task-oriented group behavior. The upcoming April 11 CIT Training Conference will be held at the downtown campus with more than 200 participants expected.