About our staff
All Forensic Psychology Centre consultants are registered psychologists who have specific training and significant experience working in forensic contexts. All our consultants have worked in secure forensic hospitals, prisons and within community based treatment and assessment services. Our psychologists continue to participate regularly in clinical practice with clients in relation to forensic matters, including both assessment and treatment and the provision of court reports.
Consultants have high professional standards and endeavor to provide a prompt and quality psychological service. To maintain practicing certificates and to ensure a high quality of service, consultants regularly engage in continuing professional development activities and supervision. Forensic Psychology Centre consultants adhere to the professional codes of the Australian Psychological Society and the Psychology Board of Australia.
Clinical Associates to the Forensic Psychology Centre
Dr Lars Madsen
Forensic & Clinical Psychologist
Lars is the director and founder of the Forensic Psychology Centre. Lars has specific experience in the assessment and treatment of adults who may pose a risk of violence and/or sexually abusive behaviours. He completed a Ph.D. in England where he also worked as a Forensic and Clinical Psychologist with mentally disordered offenders and individuals diagnosed with personality disorder. His work within the forensic field has included direct assessment, individual and group treatment, training and consultancy within correctional institutions, secure hospitals and community contexts. He has specific experience in the treatment of deviant sexual interest, and internet pornography. He has experience providing psychological reports for criminal and civil courts, has published in academic journals as well as presented at international conferences and taught at universities. Lars is a member of the APS Forensic and Clinical Colleges. He is also a registered Chartered Clinical Psychologist with the, British Psychological Society, a member of the National Association for the Treatment of Abusers (NOTA) and the Australia and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law. He is registered with the Psychlogy Board of Australia.
Shay Addison
Psychologist
Shay has experience as a psychologist in a variety of different contexts with children, adolescents and adults in both Australia and the United Kingdom. Her experience includes the assessment, management and treatment of a range of issues and difficulties, including impulse control disorders, anger and violence and sexual behaviour problems. Shay’s clinical work has included individual and group treatment and she has also consulted to schools on the implementation and evaluation of behaviour management programs. Shay is a qualified polygraph examiner. She has specific experience performing post conviction polygraph examinations with community based sexual offenders and has presented at international conferences and published in academic journals regarding this area.
Frank Bergmann
Clinical Psychologist
Frank has over 10 years experience working as a clinical psychologist. He has worked on secure forensic hospital setting and within the community. He has experience in providing reports to court for fitness to stand trial and general mitigation reports.
Nick Smith
Psychologist
Nick has more than five years experience working in the area of forensic mental health, both in the community and in secure inpatient settings. During this time Nick has specialised in the assessment and management of high-risk violent and sexual offenders with major mental illnesses and severe personality disorders such as well as developing behavioral management and competency enhancement programs for intellectually disabled offenders. From this work he has developed a particular interest in the different interactions between psychosis, psychopathy and intellectual disability. Prior to this Nick worked for more than five years in the field of dual diagnosis (co-occurring mental illness and substance use) with adolescent and adult populations.
Olaf Handrick
Clinical Psychologist
Olaf developed his expertise in working with violent and sexually deviant offenders through training and work in different jurisdictions and settings in various treatment environments such as psychiatric rehabilitation, inpatient settings (Medium Secure) , private consultancies and corrective services. He received training and supervision in the application of standardized risk assessment tools such as the HCR-20, SVR-20, PCL-R, PCL-SV, and Violence Risk Scale and in the provision of evidence based treatment such as EMDR, Cognitive Reprocessing Therapy, Anger management, Schema Therapy, Cognitive Remediation Therapy (CRT) and DBT from the developer of those technologies. He is a member of the Australian Psychological Society, Clinical College, and a former member of the BPS and BABCP. His current interest lies in differential diagnosis and psychopathology such as the interaction of personality factors and mental illness, formulation and management of dynamic risk factors in the context of court ordered treatment, clinical supervision, cognitive remediation in brain injury, the impact of trauma and brain injury on offending and the design of treatment packages. He has presented evidence in Courts in Germany, UK and NZ. He was involved in the setting up and evaluation of inpatient treatment programs.
Joel Smith
Psychologist
Joel Smith, is an affiliate member of the Australian Psychological Society, affiliate membership with the College of Forensic Psychologists and clinical membership in the Australian and New Zealand Association of Assessment and Treatment of Sexual Abusers. Joel has specific training, qualifications and expertise in the area of assessing, evaluating and treating adult sexual and violent offenders. He has ten years experience working in a forensic setting undertaking assessment, treatment and supervision of offenders. Joel has produced hundreds of risk assessment and treatment reports and supervised the production of exponentially more risk assessment, treatment and supervision reports from psychologists, social workers and treatment providers. He has developed a range of risk assessment and management strategies used statewide for the supervision and treatment of high risk sexual offenders. Joel has presented at state and national conferences in relation to these areas. He has appeared in the Supreme Court as an expert witness on many occasions in relation to the risk assessment and supervision of high risk sexual offenders subject to the Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act (2003). Joel has produced psychological reports for the review of indefinitely sentenced violent and sexual offenders, pre-sentencing, Child Safety matters, QCAT hearings, Teacher’s College, and compensation matters.
Dr Susan Boyce
Forensic Psychologist
Susan Boyce has 12 years experience working within correctional and forensic mental health settings. During this time, she has gained experience in the assessment, treatment and management of people with major mental illnesses who also have complex problem behaviours, such as violence, sexual violence, arson and stalking. She has prepared numerous risk assessment reports within various settings and also supervised colleagues in preparation of similar reports. Susan has post-graduate clinical training in the assessment and treatment of a range of mental health problems and provides supervision to post-graduate students, provisionally registered psychologists and her peers. She has assisted in the preparation of intervention packages aimed at addressing problem behaviours for mental health clients. Susan has completed research in the field of juvenile mental health screening and assessment and is currently involved in research regarding high-risk psychotic phenomena. She is a member of the Australia and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, the Australian Psychological Society, the APS Forensic College and is the process of joining the APS Clinical College.
Catherine Creamer
Psychologist
Catherine Creamer, CPsychol, is a Psychologist registered in the UK, New Zealand and Australia. She is visiting lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland, where she undertakes research and lectures on the MSc Forensic Psychology course. Catherine works in private practice in the aforementioned countries providing specialist reports and consultancy. She has extensive experience in the assessment and treatment of offenders and of providing expert witness reports to Courts, Parole Boards and Mental Health Tribunals. Catherine also has extensive training and consultancy experience and was awarded the contract to re-design the Facilitator Pathway training for the New Zealand Department of Corrections, resulting in a newly developed 7-week foundational training and one week advanced training. Additionally, Catherine worked with a team commissioned by the European Union to develop Hostage Negotiation and Critical Incident manuals in Romania (2009) and to develop training in these areas. She is currently consulting to the Council of Europe on a Prison Reform project in Turkey where she is designing training in risk assessment and facilitation skills. Additionally she is consulting to the Scottish Government on risk assessment procedures relating to employment and the Protection of Vulnerable Groups. Outside of this, Catherine travels between Europe, Australia and New Zealand, has been previously commissioned by these jurisdictions to support the development of offending behaviour programs, monitor program delivery and train facilitators.
Teresa Wood
Psychologist
Teresa Wood is a Chartered Forensic Psychologist in the UK and Registered Psychologist in Australia. She has worked in the field of Forensic Psychology for approximately 15 years in a variety of settings including secure hospitals, prisons and community settings. During her career Teresa has specialised in the assessment and treatment of young violent and sexual offenders with complex needs. Teresa has also been active in Therapeutic Community work and ran the only Therapeutic Community for young offenders in the UK Prison Service for a period of approximately 5 years. Teresa has extensive experience of providing specialist reports, training and consultancy to a variety of professional agencies. She is a member of both the Australian Psychological Society and the British Psychological Society.
David Whittingham
Forensic Psychologist
David has had over 10 years specialist experience in forensic psychology both within corrective services and forensic mental health settings in Queensland, in more recently as a specialist consultant within the private sector. Within prison David was responsible for the organization and delivery of treatment programs and also the supervision of psychology staff. David has recently returned to Australia after 15 months in the United Kingdom working with some of the worlds foremost experts in a specialist unit providing assessment and treatment services to violent offenders. David has completed research in personal responsibility, offending and remorse and has a particular interest in the assessment of individuals for fitness to stand trial, investigative interviewing and motivational interviewing. He regularly provides psychological reports to court and has appeared as an expert witness, has delivered training in his areas of interest to lawyers, psychologists and psychiatrists. David is a member of the APS College of Forensic Psychology and has an interest in both research and provision of best practice consulting services within the area of Forensic Psychology.
Doug Boer
Associate Professor of Psychology
Dr Boer has worked in the area of risk assessment and management with general as well as special offender populations since the early nineties. He is co-author of risk assessment instruments the Sexual Violence Risk 20 (SVR 20), and the Assessment of Risk with Individuals with developmental and Intellectual Limitations who Offend (ARMIDILO). He has published widely in the area and presented at international conferences on the topic. Dr Boer has consulted to organizations and provided training on risk assessment and management to mental health professionals, probation officers and corrections staff. He continues to work clinically with offenders and provide supervision to students and professionals. He is a clinical associate of the Forensic Psychology Centre and is available to provide training and supervision.
Dr Ursula Oertel
Clinical Psychologist
Ursula Oertel is a member of the Australian Psychological Society and College of Clinical Psychologists. She has 7 years experience working as a clinical Psychologist within mental health and forensic settings. During this time, Ursula gained experience providing assessments and treatment interventions to individuals with a range of emotional, behavioural and psychiatric disorders. Ursula also has experience working within the drug and alcohol field providing assessment, education and treatment to individuals with substance use problems. Ursula has worked with both adolescents and adults providing psychological treatments including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Motivational Interviewing and Brief Interventions targeting a variety of areas including depression, anxiety, stress, anger, eating disorders, substance use, psychosis, trauma and behavioural problems.