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IVAN KRUH, PHD - FORENSIC & CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Dr. Kruh's News

Dr. Kruh co-presents "Narrative Risk Formulations of Youths Who Have Sexually Harmed" for Safer Society

6/5/2025

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On 6/4/25, Dr. Kruh presented a webinar with Keith Cruise, PhD, MLS, (Director of Behavioral Screening at National Youth Screening and Assessment Partners and Associate Professor at Fordham University) on the topic of Narrative Formulations in evaluations of youth who have sexually harmed. More information about the training is below. It will soon be available on-demand at Safer Society. Please see: https://safersociety.org/continuing-education/all-on-demand-trainings/  

If you want to bring Dr. Kruh to your group or agency to receive training in evaluations of youth who have engaged in problematic sexual behavior, or if you are hoping to have an evaluation conducted for a youth who has engage din problematic sexual behavior, please reach out to Dr. Kruh at [email protected].

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Our understanding of the risks and needs of youths who have sexually harmed has advanced in recent years. Whereas assessments once looked only at those risk factors that signal dangerousness, they now employ a more comprehensive approach that takes into account:
  • The youth’s protective factors
  • The youth’s developmental status
  • Multiple contexts in which the youth exists (e.g., home, school, and community environments)
Further, many authors have pointed out that identifying risk factors is not nearly as helpful as explaining how risk factors and protective factors have occurred and combined to make harmful behaviors more or less likely to occur. Over time, these risk and protective factors form a narrative—a story of how the youth came to behave the way they have.
In this training, Drs. Kruh and Cruise explain how the risk assessments of the past have evolved into comprehensive, structured methods for understanding and explaining a youth’s potential for harmful behavior. Narrative risk formulations are a key component of assessment and management in mental health and criminal justice settings. The presenters examine:
  • A model for narrative risk formulation
  • Essential knowledge about adolescent development and developmental psychopathology
  • Current data on adolescent sexual re-offense rates
  • How trauma plays a role in sexual abuse by adolescents
  • “Scenario planning” to identify situations for potential abuse

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Drs. Ivan Kruh and Gina Vincent train juvenile court clinicians and others on use of the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY)

1/17/2025

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​On 1/14/25 and 1/15/25, Drs. Ivan Kruh and Gina Vincent of National Youth Screening and Assessment Partners collaborated with CONCEPT Palo Alto University to offer a two-day online training entitled Violence Risk Assessment in Juveniles Using the SAVRY. Nearly 40 juvenile court clinicians and others who work with youth reviewed the foundations of juvenile violence risk assessment, the development of and research support behind the SAVRY, the clinical rating of SAVRY items, and the interpretation of the SAVRY results to develop an estimate of a given youth's risk level and to identify targets for services aimed at managing and reducing that risk. Several case vignettes were used to support the development of these skills. The training is available for on-demand participation at https://concept.paloaltou.edu/.

If you want to bring Dr. Kruh and his colleagues at National Youth Screening Partners to your group or agency to receive training in use of the SAVRY, please reach out at www.nysap.us/  If you are hoping to have a violence risk assessment of a juvenile conducted, please reach out to Dr. Kruh at [email protected].

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Dr. Kruh trains North Carolina juvenile court judges on evaluations of juvenile competence to proceed

11/30/2024

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On November 21, 2024, as part of a day-long training on "Juvenile Capacity to Proceed" for juvenile court judges offered by the University of North Carolina's School of Government, Dr. Kruh presented a session on how forensic mental health evaluators conduct juvenile competency evaluations at a best practices level. This was part of a day-long session helping juvenile court judges to understand the nuances of North Carolina's new juvenile competency statute and the implementation of juvenile competency evaluation and remediation services. Dr. Kruh's session was offered as a simultaneous webinar for professionals at North Carolina's Division of Juvenile Justice throughout the state.

If you are interested in having Dr. Kruh, through National Youth Screening and Assessment Partners (NYSAP), provide a training to your group on the topic of juvenile competency to stand trial, or you are in need of a juvenile competency evaluation, please contact Dr. Kruh at [email protected].
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Dr. Kruh and Dr. Shoshanna Must present at the International Forensic Psychiatry Lecture Series

11/7/2024

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​On November 7, 2024, Ivan Kruh and Shoshanna Must presented a webinar to the International Forensic Psychiatry Lecture Series, hosted by McMaster University and St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton, ON. This series is a weekly education opportunity addressing engaging and innovative topics in forensic psychiatry reaching psychiatrists and allied professionals worldwide. The topic of the webinar was, “Current Assessment Approaches for Problematic Sexual Behavior in Adolescents.” Dr. Kruh discussed the field’s evolution from traditional risk assessment of Youth with Problematic Sexual Behavior to a “needs assessment” approach that focuses on considering protective factors and developing a narrative formulation that allows for scenario planning toward planning interventions. Dr. Must discussed the need to place these evaluations in a developmental and trauma-informed context, to attend to the role of exposure to pornography and other possible online harm, the role of sexual preoccupation, atypical sexual interests, attitudes supportive of sexual misbehavior, and victim awareness as key markers of risk, and the limited role of denial in these cases. 

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Dr. Kruh Participates in Roundtable at 2024  IAFMHS Conference

6/20/2024

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On 6/20/24, Dr. Kruh participated in a roundtable discussion at the annual conference of the International Association of Forensic Mental Health Services (IAFMHS) in San Francisco, CA. The roundtable addressed the implementation of best forensic practices in response to juvenile justice reform in Connecticut. Since 2010, Dr. Kruh has served as an external consultant to Connecticut’s Court Support Services Division (CSSD). His work with CSSD has included training about and quality control of Dispositional Planning evaluations and Residential Placement evaluations within CSSD’s juvenile court clinics. Dr. Kruh discussed these efforts in terms of implementation science, highlighting successes and challenges. He was joined by Keith Cruise, PhD, discussing the implementation of intake processes once youth are placed in a residential setting, Michele Galietta, PhD discussing the implementation of a DBT treatment milieu within the residential settings, and Ms. Tracy Duran discussing the experience of CSSD in the implementation of these changes. 
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Dr. Kruh Co-Presents to University of Michigan Forensic Psychiatry Fellows on Juvenile Competency Issues

4/11/2024

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On April 11, 2024, Dr. Kruh and his colleague at National Youth Screening and Assessment Partners (NYSAP), Dr. Christina Riggs Romaine, offered forensic psychiatry fellows at the University of Michigan (who tend to focus on working with adults) a training seminar on conducting competency evaluations in Michigan’s juvenile courts. Having worked with Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services for over seven years training juvenile competency evaluators state-wide, as well as various legal and clinical stakeholders, the NYSAP team has developed focused expertise on juvenile competency evaluations in Michigan. Drs. Kruh and Riggs Romaine discussed key differences in conducting competency evaluations with juveniles compared to adults. This included a focus on the role of adolescent development in these evaluations and a careful review of Michigan’s juvenile competency statute. A case study was presented to illustrate key points.

If you are interested in having Dr. Kruh, through National Youth Screening and Assessment Partners (NYSAP), provide a training to your group on the topic of juvenile competency to stand trial, or you are in need of a juvenile competency evaluation, please contact Dr. Kruh at [email protected].
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Ivan Kruh named partner at National Youth Screening & Assessment Partners

1/1/2024

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Dr. Kruh is now a partner at National Youth Screening & Assessment Partners (NYSAP). NYSAP was founded in 2000 by Drs. Gina Vincent and Tom Grisso. It is a technical assistance and research group, dedicated to helping juvenile justice programs identify youths’ needs for behavioral health intervention and risk management. NYSAP provides training and implementation technical assistance services to agencies and programs in the areas of risk screening and risk-needs assessment, behavioral health screening (including traumatic events and symptoms), and juveniles’ competence to stand trial evaluations, as well as many other trainings for various stakeholder groups. Dr. Kruh joined NYSAP in 2013 and has been NYSAP's Director of Juvenile Competence Services since 2021. Dr. Kruh is proud to partner in NYSAP's work with esteemed colleagues, including Keith Cruise, PhD; Christina Riggs Romaine, PhD; and Kathleen Kemp, PhD; as well as Drs. Vincent and Grisso.

See www.nysap.us for more information about NYSAP's services and how to begin a collaboration. 
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Ivan Kruh and Christina Riggs Romaine presented a half-day webinar to juvenile defense attorneys affiliated with the Northeast Region of The Gault Center on September 29, 2023, entitled 'Developmental Immaturity in Juvenile Competency.'

10/4/2023

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States are diverse in how they define competency to stand trial in juvenile courts, but across most jurisdictions there has been increased sensitivity to the role developmental immaturity can play in limiting the capacities of youths to understand the nature of the proceedings they face and to assist in their defense. Drs. Riggs Romaine and Kruh reviewed relevant concepts in normal adolescent cognitive and psychosocial development, as well as the impacts of development on childhood psychopathology. They discussed how these factors can impact four key functional components of competency, and reviewed the scientific literature on development and competency. They offered guidance on important elements of a developmentally sensitive competency evaluation, reviewed differences between the juvenile competency standards across the attending states (Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania), and explained research on how different standards seem to impact court decision making. They discussed red flags that defense attorneys should be attuned to when considering which youth to refer for a competency evaluation and they ended the training with an overview of current practices in juvenile competency remediation programs nationally.

If you are interested in having Dr. Kruh provide a training on juvenile competency evaluations through NYSAP or you are in need of a juvenile competency evaluation, please contact Dr. Kruh at [email protected].
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Dr. Kruh Presents to Georgia DBHDD on Juvenile Criminal Responsibility Evaluations

9/8/2023

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On 9/8/23, Dr. Kruh presented a training on conducting criminal responsibility evaluations in juvenile court to forensic mental health evaluators and others at the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Conference on Behavioral Health and the Law. In 2022, the Georgia Supreme Court held in the case of In the interest of T.B. that, excluding status offenses, juvenile respondents have a right to assert Georgia’s two affirmative criminal responsibility defenses – Insanity and Delusional Compulsion. Dr. Kruh reviewed the history of criminal responsibility defenses in juvenile courts in the United States across its 125 year history, presented the current status of juvenile criminal responsibility law nationally, discussed elements of adolescent development that make conducting these evaluations with juveniles different from evaluating adults, and offered practical guidance on how to conduct such evaluations consistent with best practices in the field.

If you are interested in having Dr. Kruh provide a training on juvenile criminal responsibility evaluations or in need of a juvenile criminal responsibility evaluation, please contact Dr. Kruh at [email protected].
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Dr. Kruh Co-Presents to University of Michigan Forensic Psychiatry Fellows on Juvenile Competency Issues

6/13/2023

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On June 13th, 2023, Dr. Kruh and his colleague at National Youth Screening and Assessment Partners (NYSAP), Dr. Christina Riggs Romaine, offered forensic psychiatry fellows at the University of Michigan (who tend to focus on working with adults) a training seminar on conducting competency evaluations in Michigan’s juvenile courts. Having worked with Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services for over six years training juvenile competency evaluators state-wide, as well as various legal and clinical stakeholders, the NYSAP team has developed focused expertise on juvenile competency evaluations in Michigan. Drs. Kruh and Riggs Romaine discussed key differences in conducting competency evaluations with juveniles compared to adults. This included a focus on the role of adolescent development in these evaluations and a careful review of Michigan’s juvenile competency statute. A case study was presented to illustrate key points.

If you are interested in having Dr. Kruh, through National Youth Screening and Assessment Partners (NYSAP), provide a training to your group on the topic of juvenile competency to stand trial, or you are in need of a juvenile competency evaluation, please contact Dr. Kruh at [email protected].
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  • Home
  • About Dr. Ivan Kruh
  • Forensic Assessment Services
  • Training Services
  • Consultation Services
  • About Juvenile Forensic Mental Health
  • Juvenile Competence to Stand Trial Resources - Book
  • Juvenile Competence to Stand Trial Resources - Online Training Programs
  • Juvenile Competence to Stand Trial Resources - Guide for Evaluation Systems
  • Articles/Publications
  • Dr. Kruh's News
  • Contact Us