Cassidy was handcuffed by police and brought to an ER where she was detained for evaluation. Part of that evaluation included a risk assessment, a clinical tool used to help navigate complex decisions about whether or not to involuntarily detain someone. But what is a risk assessment? How reliable are these tools and why do systems of involuntary detention seem to be built around them?
In this episode we speak to Tim Wand and Morgan Shields to try and better understand risk assessments and what role they play in psychiatric holds and civil commitments.
Morgan Shields:
https://brownschool.wustl.edu/Faculty-and-Research/Pages/Morgan-Shields.aspx
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2788761
Recommended reading from Tim Wand:
https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2019/10/world-mental-health-day-10-october-2019
Episode transcript: sensiblenonsense.squarespace.com/committables2-transcripts/2022/9/6/s2-episode-3-hot-potato
This episode of Committable was produced by Michelle Stockman, Cassidy Wilson, Jim McQuaid and Jesse Mangan.
https://sensiblenonsense.squarespace.com/committable
All music is from the song Reasonable by Christopher G. Brown.