Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship

The fellowship program uses clinical, didactic, and scholarly experiences to educate trainees about three major topic areas:

• The use of psychiatric expertise to aid in the resolution of legal issues;
• The treatment of patients in forensic treatment settings, including maximum-security hospitals, correctional institutions, and community programs; and
• The legal regulation of psychiatric practice.

The goal of the program is not to transform psychiatrists into legal experts, but rather to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to facilitate effective communication between psychiatric and legal audiences.

Each year, fellows and faculty members in the Yale Law & Psychiatry Division complete over 100 forensic evaluations in various areas of criminal and civil law, including:

• Criminal responsibility
• Pre-sentence reports
• Custody
• Termination of parental rights
• Civil commitment
• Independent medical evaluations of disability
• Immigration and asylum evaluations
• Fitness for duty
• Forced medication
• Medical malpractice
• Psychic harm
• Risk assessment and management

All fellows are assigned to the Law and Psychiatry rotation on a part-time basis for 12 months. Over the course of the year, each fellow typically completes 10-15 forensic evaluations, most of which require reports and/or testimony.

New Haven Office of Court Evaluations

The New Haven Office of Court Evaluations (NHOCE) has responsibility for performing all competence to stand trial evaluations in the south-central part of Connecticut, amounting to approximately 200 evaluations per year. All fellows are assigned to this rotation on a part-time basis for 12 months. Fellows perform evaluations individually and as part of a forensic team consisting of a physician, psychologist, and social worker. Testimony is routinely required; fellows can expect to testify about competency to stand trial evaluations between 10 and 20 times over the course of the year.

VA Connecticut Health Care System

The VA Connecticut Healthcare System in West Haven is a 200-bed tertiary care hospital affiliated with the Yale School of Medicine. Each fellow spends two days per week at the VA for six months of the academic year. Activities include:

• Psychiatric evaluations for veterans seeking upgrades of their discharge status
• Evaluations for court diversion of defendants presenting to the Veterans Justice Outreach (VJO) program
• Evaluations of psychiatric disability (Compensation & Pension evaluations)
• Participating in the hospital's Disruptive Behavior Committee meetings

Whiting Forensic Hospital

Whiting Forensic Hospital consists of maximum-security and enhanced-security treatment units in Middletown, Connecticut. It is the state’s only forensic psychiatric hospital. Patients are sent to Whiting from:

• Other psychiatric hospitals if they are too dangerous to be managed;
• Department of Correction facilities if their treatment needs exceed the capacity of prison mental health services;
• Criminal courts after an insanity acquittal; and
• Criminal courts for restoration to competence.

Each fellow provides year-long individual and group psychotherapy in the maximum- and enhanced-security treatment environments under the supervision of a forensic psychotherapist.

Connecticut Department of Correction

The Connecticut Department of Correction is a combined prison and jail system that houses approximately 10,000 incarcerated people. Each fellow spends one day per week for six weeks at Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown, Connecticut, which is the designated mental health facility for incarcerated men. Under the supervision of attending psychiatrists, fellows participate in involuntary medication hearings ("panels") and assess patients on specialized mental health units in the prison.

Yale Law School

Fellows have the option of attending a seminar or participating in a clinic at Yale Law School for one semester. Options vary from year to year. In recent years, they have included:

• Veterans Legal Services: In this clinic, established in 2010, students represent Connecticut veterans in litigation before administrative agencies and courts regarding VA benefits, discharge upgrade, immigration, and pardon matters. Forensic fellows serve as psychiatric consultants to the law students, or they may evaluate the clients regarding psychiatric disabilities.
• Immigration and Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP): IRAP organizes law students and lawyers to develop and enforce a set of legal and human rights for refugees and displaced persons. Forensic psychiatry fellows serve as consultants to the law students, sometimes evaluating clients regarding trauma and psychiatric illness.
• Liman Workshop: This class explores the theory and practical application of public interest law. Topics vary each semester. In recent years, the seminar has focused on incarceration and punishment. Forensic psychiatry fellows attend the multidisciplinary classes, facilitating discussion amongst the students and sometimes presenting on topics related to psychiatry.

Attorneys' Offices

Each fellow is assigned as a psychiatric consultant in a legal office for one-half day per week over the course of the year. Fellows help attorneys think through psychiatric aspects of their cases, review other experts’ reports, observe trials and pre-trial conferences, and occasionally give presentations to attorneys on mental health topics.

The placements include:

• New Haven State's Attorney's Office
• Fairfield State's Attorney's Office
• Milford State's Attorney's Office
• New Haven Federal Defender's Office
• New Haven State's Attorney for Juvenile Matters

The fellowship includes a robust didactic curriculum, offering approximately 8 hours per week of formal didactic education. Seminars are spaced throughout the week and are held at Connecticut Mental Health Center and Whiting Forensic Hospital. The courses include:

Law and Psychiatry Case Conference (Fridays, 8:30-10 am, all year)

• In this seminar, the entire Law and Psychiatry faculty gathers together with the fellows to discuss a forensic evaluation. Each week, a fellow or faculty presents a case that is in progress, gathering feedback from the group.

Court Clinic Case Conference (Tuesdays, 3-4 pm, all year)

• Every Tuesday, a fellow participates in team competence to stand trial evaluations together with a psychologist and social worker. In the case conference, fellows present the cases seen by the team and discuss their findings.

Landmark Cases Seminar (Tuesdays, 4:10-5:30 pm, August to May)

• This course is co-taught by a lawyer and forensic psychiatrist. Each week, fellows read landmark court decisions related to mental health, discussing the salient aspects for forensic psychiatry practice.

Foundations of Forensic Psychiatric Practice (Fridays, 1-2:30 pm, all year)

• In this course, fellows learn about the theoretical foundations of current forensic practice and evolving areas of research and scholarship in the field. Content areas include criminal law, civil law, report writing and testimony, and many others.

Forensic Patients and Systems of Care (Thursdays 2:30-4 pm, July to March)

• This course focuses on topics related to the treatment forensic psychiatric patients, such as the organization of mental health systems, management of insanity acquittees, psychotherapy in forensic treatment settings, community forensics, correctional psychiatry, and public policy. Guest lecturers are invited to teach about areas in which they are expert.

Fostering Justice (one Friday per month, 2:45-4:15 pm, September to May)

• This course explores the intersection of social justice and forensic psychiatry. Fellows and faculty discuss the role of race, gender, class, sexual orientation, ability, and other important topics in the criminal justice system and forensic psychiatric practice. Other topics include bias in forensic evaluations, advocacy as a forensic psychiatrist, and creating diversity, equity, and inclusion in the field of forensic psychiatry.

Journal Club (one Friday per month, 2:45-4:15 pm, September to May.)

• In this class, fellows read recent legal decisions related to psychiatric practice and forensic psychiatry. Discussions are led by an attorney and forensic psychiatrist.

The Mock Trial (two Fridays in December)

• Each fellow testifies in a mock trial that is conducted by a real judge and experienced attorneys. The exercise is observed by Law & Psychiatry faculty members, who provide immediate feedback. In addition, the testimony is video-recorded, and fellows are given a DVD of their testimony to review in supervision.

PGY-2 Forensic Psychiatry Course (Thursdays 2:30-4 pm, March-June)

• This course focuses on teaching PGY-2 psychiatry residents the aspects of forensic psychiatry relevant to general clinical practice. Topics include confidentiality, duties to third parties, involuntary treatment, impaired physicians, malpractice litigation, and risk assessment, among others. Fellows co-teach the sessions with forensic faculty members.
  

Trainees are encouraged to engage in scholarly activities during the fellowship. Faculty members are always willing to meet with fellows to discuss ideas about research projects, articles, or book chapters. In addition, the program offers the following structured scholarly activities:

• AAPL Annual Meeting and Review Course: All fellows attend the annual meeting of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL) and the Forensic Psychiatry Review Course in October. The AAPL meeting is a highlight of the fellowship year, providing an overview of the field and an opportunity to meet scholars and trainees from around the country.
• Legal Digest Exercise: Each fellow works with a faculty co-author to review and summarize a recent legal decision for the “Legal Digest” section of the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. Fellows complete the draft article in the fall, and the completed pieces are published in March of the fellowship year.

Fellows are assigned several individual supervisors to help work through forensic cases over the course of the year. At any given time, each fellow has the following supervisors:

• Two caseload supervisors, responsible for meeting weekly to discuss ongoing forensic evaluations
• One psychotherapy supervisor based at Whiting Forensic Hospital, responsible for meeting weekly to discuss the fellow’s individual and group therapy cases
  
• A “testimony resource” faculty member who can accompany the fellow to court and provide feedback about performance during testimony

Additional supervisors are always available and can be assigned as necessary.

Faculty members routinely accompany fellows on evaluations, particularly at the beginning of the year. As the trainees become more experienced, they work more independently, although the faculty supervisors continue to monitor their work. All fellows’ reports are reviewed and revised by faculty supervisors before completion.

In the last half of the training year, forensic trainees who have demonstrated mastery in the evaluation and formulations of cases are provided the opportunity to supervise some work of beginning trainees (who participate in competency to stand trial or other cases) and to make contributions to the training seminars. In the latter context, the fellows are asked to review and present discussions of didactic material to the group.

All applications should be submitted through the Electronic Residency Application System (ERAS) beginning on July 2, 2025. The ERAS "2026 Season" opens on June 4, 2025, at which time all forensic programs participating in ERAS will be visible to applicants. Applicants are encouraged to upload required materials by July 16, 2025, when the applications become visible in ERAS to fellowship programs.

All applicants to forensic psychiatry fellowships are required to submit:

MyERAS Application:

• Personal information
• Biographic information
• Education
• Experience
• Licensure
• Publication list

Standard ERAS Documents:

• Personal Statement
• Medical School Transcript
• 3 Letters of Recommendation (one of which must be from the applicant's current or most recent program director)
• MSPE
• Photo
• USMLE or COMLEX Scores
• ECFMG certificate (for international medical graduates)

Additional Documents:

Writing sample: Applicants can submit either a redacted forensic report or a published article (of which the applicant is first author). All writing samples should be uploaded to ERAS as "Publications," regardless of type.

Interviews

Yale plans to interview candidates in August and September 2025. All interviews will be conducted virtually using Thalamus software. To standardize the interview process, there is no option for in-person interviews.

The interview day begins with an overview presentation of the fellowship by the Program Director. Applicants then meet with several faculty members for 30-60 minutes each. A 60-minute writing exercise is conducted in the late afternoon, followed by an informal opportunity to meet with current and former fellows.

The Match

Rank lists for the NRMP Match are due on October 8, 2025. Match Day is October 22, 2025.

Questions?

Questions about the application or interview process can be directed to lawandpsychiatry@yale.edu or karen.flores-gonzalez@yale.edu.