Ethical Considerations with the Homicidal Patient

Dr. Alan Goodwin, Director of the Student Counseling Services Center at California Lutheran University, is a lawyer and a clinical psychologist. In this presentation, he will discuss his findings from a survey of legal cases to shed light on the legal and ethical challenges that clinicians face in dealing with potentially violent clients. In many cases the person who acted violently had either been, or was currently in, psychological treatment. His presentation has gained particular relevance in light of the incident at Virginia Tech and the recent fatal incidents in a public school in Oxnard and at Yale University.

Goodwin received his B.A. with honors from Michigan State University. He went on to earn his juris doctorate from the University of Michigan Law School and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University.

Illustration: “Houdini” 
by Sophie Blackall.