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Forensic Awareness and Skills Training (FAST) provides practical instruction in core skills needed to assess and safely manage justice-involved adults with serious mental illness in community settings.  FAST training was developed for all professionals who provide outpatient mental health treatment and support services to high-risk individuals, including psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, case managers, peer service providers and rehabilitation practitioners.  This training may also be of interest to criminal justice professionals who serve mentally ill adults in community settings, including judges, probation officers, parole officers, pre-trial diversion staff, and police officers. 

FAST also provides useful information for administrators, policy makers, funding agencies, and others who support the delivery of mental health and/or criminal justice services to adults with serious mental illness.FAST also provides useful information for administrators, policy makers, funding agencies, and others who support the delivery of mental health and/or criminal justice services to adults with serious mental illness.

FAST training is provided in a convenient 1-day on-site workshop format, complete with a training manual and videos.  On-site training is followed by two webinar presentations that enable participants to learn from each other while reinforcing skills learned during the training workshop.  FAST training can be tailored to the needs of your service providers, with the goal of optimizing community-based care for justice-involved adults with serious mental illness.

Featured Publications 

The First Publication on Forensic Assertive Community Treatment:

  • Lamberti JS, Weisman R, Faden D.  Forensic assertive community treatment:  Preventing incarceration of adults with severe mental illness.  Psychiatric Services 55:1285-1293, 2004.

A Framework for Preventing Criminal Recidivism Among People with Serious Mental Illness:

  • Lamberti JS.  Understanding and preventing criminal recidivism among adults with psychotic disorders.  Psychiatric Services 58:773-781, 2007.

Forensic Assertive Community Treatment in the United States:

  • Lamberti JS, Weisman RL.  “Forensic Assertive Community Treatment:  Origins, Current Practice and Future Directions.  In:  Reentry Planning for Offenders with Mental Disorders:  Policy and Practice.  Dlucacz H, Ed.  Civic Research Institute, Kingston NY.  Chapter 7:1-14, 2010.

The Role of Probation in Forensic Assertive Community Treatment:

  • Lamberti JS, Deem A, Weisman RL et al.  The role of probation in forensic assertive community treatment.  Psychiatric Services 62:418-421, 2011.

Predictors of Arrest During Forensic Assertive Community Treatment:

  • Erickson S, Lamberti JS, Weisman RL et al. The role of probation in forensic assertive community treatment.  Psychiatric Services 60:834-837, 2009

Use of Legal Authority to Promote Treatment Adherence

  • Lamberti JS, Russ A, Cerruli K, et al.  Perceptions of autonomy and coercion among recipients of legal leverage in forensic assertive community treatment. Harvard Review of Psychiatry 22:222-230, 2014

A Framework for Promoting Effective Mental Health and Criminal Justice Collaboration

  • Lamberti JS.  Preventing criminal recidivism through mental health and criminal justice collaboration.  Psychiatric Services 67:1206-1212, 2016

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Forensic Assertive Community Treatment

  • Lamberti JS, Weisman RL, Cerulli K et al.  A randomized controlled trial of the Rochester forensic assertive community treatment model.  Psychiatric Services 68:1016-1024, 2017

A Review of Community-Based Intervention for Justice-Involved Patients

  • Weisman RL, Lamberti JS, Ciccone JR.  Community-based interventions for justice-involved individuals with serious mental disorders.  In, Principles and Practice of Forensic Psychiatry, Third Edition.  Rosner R, and Scott CL, Eds.  CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 2017

A Review of Psychosis, Mania and Criminal Justice System Involvement

  • Lamberti JS, Katsetos V, Jacobowitz D et al.  Psychosis, Mania and Criminal Recidivism:  Associations and Implications for Prevention.  Harvard Review of Psychiatry 28:179-202, 2020

Fidelity Scale for Forensic Assertive Community Treatment

  • Lamberti JS, Weisman RL.  Essential elements of forensic assertive community treatment.  Harvard Review of Psychiatry 29:278-297, 2021

Promoting Collaboration Through Inter-Agency Partnerships

  • Kamin D, Weisman RL, Lamberti JS.  Promoting mental health and criminal justice collaboration through system-level partnerships.  Frontiers in Psychiatry 13:1-8, 2021

Cost-Effectiveness of Forensic Assertive Community Treatment

  • Maeng D, Tsun Z, Lesch E, Lamberti JS:  Cost-effectiveness of the Rochester forensic assertive community model.  Psychiatric Services 74:358-364, 2023