FORENSIC MENTAL HEALTH

Online

CAMPUS

1 year part-time

DURATION

COMMENCING IN

Trimester 1, 2

$16,000

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FEE (INDICATIVE)

CREDIT POINTS

40

DEGREE CODE

3154

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

IELTS
(Academic)
7

Any Bachelor degree or higher

Relevant work experience

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Explore the relationship between mental disorder and criminal offending.

This degree provides a broad knowledge base in forensic mental health. It's delivered in collaboration with Queensland Health's Forensic Mental Health Service and offers professionals an introduction to working in this field. You will leave the program with research-based knowledge in forensic mental health and how it is applied in practice.

A core part of this degree is the relationship between mental disorder and criminal offending. You'll gain a critical appreciation of the issues involved in defining mental disorder and criminal behaviour, how they are classified and the major models for understanding both, including free will versus determinism, nature versus nurture, and person versus situation.

Risk assessment in forensic mental health will be another key aspect of your study. You'll gain a deeper understanding of the utility and applicability of different risk assessment tools that attempt to predict an individual's likelihood of harming other or being harmed by others.

Industry and expert connections

Throughout this graduate certificate you will learn alongside other professionals and graduates who work in, or wish to work in, mental health and criminal justice. The collaborative learning that's part of this program means you have plenty of opportunity to make personal connections, with your fellow students and with our academics staff.

Graduate outcomes

With a more thorough understanding of mental health issues and the way they intersect with criminal offending, you'll have a more thorough knowledge of forensic mental health with a specialty in different constructions of mental illness that take into account various cultural, normative, philosophical and social aspects and how these intersect with ideas of criminal offending and justice. You may find work in corrections, rehabilitation counselling, charities working in the criminal justice sector, and in government departments and organisations.