Facilitating multi-disciplinary teams

Although many forensic psychologists work in multi-disciplinary organizations, there is no single pattern in their roles and responsibilities in relation to other professionals such as prison officers,nurses and the police. The traditional, and for some still the dominant role, is that of ‘expert’. Within this capacity psychological skills and knowledge are used in the performance of specialized functions which complement the work of other staff. Examples of these functions include the provision of assessment or research reports and the direct delivery of interventions. Other psychologists, usually in addition to the expert role, support the contributions of other professionals more directly through activities such as the giving of advice or training. This role is essentially that of ‘consultant’. More recently, sizeable numbers of forensic psychologists have been given responsibility for aspects of the work of other professionals. This ‘manager’ role includes the mobilization, supervision and coordination of multidisciplinary teams. It is seen most clearly in the large-scale implementation within the prison and probation services of offending behaviour groupwork, where the establishment of the role of ‘treatment manager’ has resulted in a massive expansion in the number of trainee forensic psychologists employed.