Training Sites

In addition to psych-law curriculum and research opportunities, clinical students in the Law-Psychology Program are required to complete 20 hours a week of practicum. Through an array of placement sites, students gain extensive exposure to forensic populations, such as violent offenders, sex offenders, mentally ill inmates, forensic psychiatric patients, involuntarily committed sex offenders (aka, “sexually violent predators”), and adolescent sex offenders. These experiences include: 1) conducting risk assessments (criminal, violence, sexual violence), personality and intelligence testing, and legal competency evaluations; 2) generating integrative reports, parole evaluations, and treatment plans; and 3) performing individual and group therapy relevant to forensic populations (e.g., anger management, Violence Reduction Program, intensive sex offender programing, competency restoration). Additionally, many of our practica offer professional trainings for employees that externs may attend for free, including: treatment considerations for psychopathy and substance abuse, risk assessment protocols (e.g., HCR-20: V3, Static-99R, STABLE), and empirically supported treatment seminars (e.g., dialectical behavior therapy). More extensive descriptions of our practicum sites are provided below.

TRAINING SITES

Lincoln Regional Center

Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services

Lincoln Regional Center Forensic Services Unit

Lincoln Regional Center Sign

The Lincoln Regional Center (LRC) is a state psychiatric hospital. The LRC campus houses several units that provide unique psychiatric services to various populations. We currently have placements at the Forensic Services Unit and Residential Sex Offender Services Unit. Additionally, externs have the option to gain experience at the Whitehall campus, which houses a residential adolescent sex offender treatment program.

Forensic Services Unit

Population

  • Offenders undergoing competency evaluations for the courts (e.g., not guilty by reason of insanity)
  • Adjudicated offenders receiving indefinite treatment
  • Approximately 40 patients

Extern Duties

  • Competency evaluations
  • Co-facilitate group therapy

Sex Offender Services Unit

Population

  • Mental Health Board Committed Sex Offenders (aka, “sexually violent predators”)
  • Convicted sex offenders temporarily stationed at LRC for treatment
  • Approximately 80 patients

Extern Duties

  • Admission psych evaluations
  • Suicide and trauma screens
  • Personality assessment and interpretation
  • Sexual violence risk assessments
  • Co-facilitate various types of group therapy

Diagnostic and Evaluation Center

Nebraska Department of Correctional Services

Diagnostic and Evaluation Center

The Diagnostic and Evaluation Center (DEC) is a maximum security intake facility for the Nebraska prison system. The DEC is responsible for the evaluation, classification, and assignment of all new inmates in the state who have been convicted of a felony.

Population

  • Newly convicted, adult male offenders
  • Variable offender types
  • Approximate facility size = 475 inmates

Extern Duties

  • Psychological interviews and reports
  • Assessment of risk for victimization and violence to inmates, staff, and self
  • Mental health assessment and treatment recommendations
  • Specialized evaluations (e.g., psychopathy, cognitive)

Nebraska State Penitentiary

Nebraska Department of Correctional Services

Nebraska State Penitentiary


The Nebraska State Penitentiary is a minimum through maximum security prison. It houses the Violence Reduction Program, an intensive residential treatment program for high-risk violent offenders.

Population

  • Adult male inmates
  • Variable offender types
  • Approximate facility size = 1,200 inmates

Extern Duties

  • Co-facilitate Violence Reduction Program
  • Co-facilitate sex offender treatment program
  • Psychopathy, violence risk, and sexual violence risk assessment

Public Policy Center

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Public Policy Center

The Public Policy Center (PPC) is a university research center that aims to connect applied research to public policy and practice. The PPC conducts a wide range of projects with implications for local, state, and national policy. In recent years, the PPC has devoted research efforts to enhance emergency response to natural disasters, train K-12 educators throughout the state on threat assessment and school safety, and understand the overlap between suicidal and violent behaviors. Research projects within the PPC are conducted among a diverse array of settings including the local Lincoln community, college and university campuses, workplaces, locations of natural disasters, and military settings.

Extern Duties

  • Assist and conduct threat assessment and emergency response research
  • Conduct various literature reviews and update databases
  • Organization of training events
  • Development of relevant formative activities and documents