Behavioral health systems work best when clinicians, courts, communities, and the people moving through the system are genuinely allied.
Dr. Lauren Kois is a clinical forensic psychologist, Instructional Faculty at the University of Virginia School of Medicine's Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy, and director of Alabama's REACH Competence Restoration Program. Her research on competence to stand trial and the national competence crisis has been funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance and published in the field's leading journals.
She is licensed in Virginia and Alabama, holds PSYPACT interjurisdictional authority, and is an Alabama Certified Forensic Examiner. She earned her PhD from John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY) and previously served as Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Alabama.
Visit Dr. Kois's professional site →People can and do get better. Systems can and should improve. Every recommendation reflects both.
The people in this work are full people, never defined by diagnoses, charges, or legal status.
We track what matters, follow the data, and say plainly what it shows, even when it's inconvenient.
Community-based, participatory approaches that center the experience of those most affected.
The first conversation costs nothing and usually helps either way.
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