Forensic Services Certificate

Forensic Services focus on the intersection between the criminal justice and health service systems. The Graduate Program in Forensic Services provides training in the complex social issues that appear at this intersection:
"I wanted to have an academic view; not jaded. My eyes were opened."

- past graduate

  • the origins of mental illness, substance abuse, and crime;
  • the operations of health and law related services for these problems;
  • and the impact of relevant social policies.

Forensic Services students include practitioners who provide behavioral health services for persons who are court involved, staff throughout the health care and criminal justice systems, and others who seek broad theoretical and practical foundation for understanding the relation between crime and behavioral health problems.

An analytical emphasis and core interdisciplinary approach to forensic services will increase understanding of ways in which public health and legal standards, specifically mental health issues and criminality, intersect and diverge. Students interested in policy or social service provision for vulnerable populations will have the opportunity to learn about criminality, law, mental illness, substance abuse, offenders, violence, the police, corrections, criminal justice, alternatives to incarceration, clinical assessment, probation, parole, private agencies, public systems, and treatment services.

Who Should Take This Program

If you are interested in working with people, particularly the mentally ill, substance abusers, criminal offenders, or other vulnerable or troubled populations, this certificate program offers knowledge, skills, and perspective to enhance your expertise. Additionally, it provides a framework to consider innovative programming, research inquiries, policy formulation, and service provision in mental health, criminal justice, or any social service system. Applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university.

The courses in the Graduate Certificate program in Forensic Services also constitute a track of the Master of Arts program in Applied Sociology. Additionally, the Mental Health track of the Department of Counseling and School Psychology’s M.S. program has a concentration in Forensic Services. (That program meets the requirements for state licensure as a Mental Health Counselor.)