The ability to communicate – speak, listen, read, write, and interact with others – is a fundamental skill affecting all aspects of life. Studies confirm a high prevalence of communication difficulties in people accessing forensic mental health services and this has serious implications for an individual’s engagement in treatment.
Many of the programs offered by forensic mental health services rely on adequate communication skills, including emotional literacy and using language to problem solve and/or explore other people’s perspectives. Mental health professionals have a responsibility to ensure interventions consider any communication needs that individuals may have.
Speech pathologists are the allied health professionals that specialise in the assessment and treatment of communication difficulties. Despite the over-representation of these challenges in forensic mental health populations, most forensic mental health services do not employ speech pathologists. This risks an individual’s rights being violated as those with communication difficulties are often restricted from realising their right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas because of their difficulty communicating.
Speech pathologists play a crucial role in enabling people with communication difficulties to recognise their communication rights and ensure interventions are tailored appropriately.
This symposium will explore the communication difficulties often experienced by individuals accessing forensic mental health services; the implications associated with not meeting these needs; how forensic mental health services can facilitate appropriate communication assessment and increase responsivity of interventions; the role of a speech pathologist; and opportunities for service development that foster inclusion of speech pathologists in the forensic mental health workforce.