Research Interests: 

Sexual violence risk assessment and treatment, psychopathy, human sexuality and sexual diversity, recidivism prediction, criminal attitudes, justice involved youth

Sample Publications (for complete list see Publications - some reference details may be incomplete depending on stage of publication):

Some reference details may be incomplete depending on stage of publication. Student co-authors under my supervision at the time of the research are underlined. Corresponding author marked with asterisk.

Refereed Journal Articles:

Book Chapters:

Teaching Interests: Courses Taught

Psychology 110 (120/121): Introduction to Psychology

Psychology 222: Personality

Psychology 223: Abnormal Psychology

Psychology 230: Criminal Behavior

Psychology 472/473: Honors Seminar

Psychology 812: Historical and Philosophical Foundations of Psychology

Psychology 813: Assessment I (T1): Personality Testing and Clinical Interviewing

Psychology 814: Assessment I (T2): Intelligence and Psychoeducational Assessment

Psychology 902: Clinical Psychology Practicum

Research and Clinical Supervision

My graduate and honors students, as would be anticipated, carry out projects consistent with my research interests (see Research Page) and some of their projects have included: 1) validating a youth sexual violence treatment planning and risk assessment measure on a sample of youth convicted for sex offending, 2) examining the relationship of treatment readiness and change to long-term recidivism in a sample of men treated for sex offending at the RPC, 3) psychopathic persons, including the response of high psychopathy persons with sex offense conviction histories to treatment and the portrayal of violent psychopathic persons in the media, 4) treatment change and protective factors in treated men convicted for violence offenses and links to institutional and community violence, 5) dynamic risk assessment of institutional aggression in psychiatric inpatients, and 6) public perceptions of persons who commit sex offenses, their response to risk management efforts, and the potential policy implications therein.  

I am a clinical psychologist by training and prior to my academic appointment at the U of S, I worked as a clinician fulltime with justice involved youth for the Saskatchewan Health Authority (Saskatoon area), did contract assessment work at the RPC, and worked for a year at Stony Mountain Institution just north of Winnipeg. I continue to be clinically active and participate in training and supervision, including some clinical work with correctional clients.

Current Graduate and Honors Students Supervised

Madison Fairholm (Yr 1 MA-Ph.D. transfer, Clinical Psychology): topic: Intimate partner violence risk assessment

Emily Riemer (Yr 3 Ph.D., Clinical Psychology): topic: Psychopathy and links to treatment changes in sexual violence risk and protective factors

Sydney Rine (Yr 5 Ph.D., Clinical Psychology): topic: Violence risk assessment and management in persons found NCRMD

Fernando Larrea (Yr 6 Ph.D., Culture, Health, and Human Development): topic: Pedophilia and its association with child sexually explicit material use 

Previous Graduate Students and Thesis Title (convocation year)

Darryl Quinlan (Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, fall, 2022). Is martial arts training beneficial to mental health? The devil is in the details. External examiner: Dr. Kim Dorsch

Brandon Sparks (Ph.D., Culture, Health, and Human Development, fall 2022). Swiping away tears: Incels, dating applications, and social supports. External examiner: Dr. Heather Moulden

Farron Wielinga (Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, fall 2022). Use of dynamic risk to assess sexual violence risk in a community-supervised sample of men with sexual violence convictions. External examiner: Dr. Alberto Choy

Carissa Augustyn (Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, spring 2022). An examination of psychopathy, self-reported treatment change, and recidivism in a sample of federally incarcerated men who have sexually offended. External examiner: Dr. Jeffrey Abracen

Nicole Callan (Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, spring 2022). Dangerous offenders: An analysis of judicial sentencing decisions. External examiner: Dr. Thomas Dalby

Alexandra Zidenberg (Ph.D., Applied Social Psychology, fall 2021). Toward a greater understanding of the assessment, psychological correlates, and management of human perpetrated sexual behaviour toward animals. External examiner: Dr. Elizabeth Jeglic. 

Jeremy Cheng (Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, fall 2021). Evaluating tribunal decision to release or detain those Not Criminally Responsible on Account of Mental Disorder. External examiner: Dr. Ashley Batastini 

Kristine Lovatt (Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, fall 2020). An examination of risk, need, and protective factors among Saskatchewan young offenders: Implications for risk management and community reintegration. (co-supervised with Dr. Keira Stockdale) External examiner: Dr. Jodi Viljoen

Robi Wirove  (Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, fall 2020). Being found Not Criminally Responsible on Account of Mental Disorder in Alberta: Population gender differences and violence prediction with the VRAG-R. External examiner: Dr. Daryl Kroner

Ian McPhail (Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, fall 2020). Conceptual and empirical issues in pedohebephilic interest. External examiner: Dr. Raymond Knight

Gabriela Corbian (Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, fall 2017): Public perceptions of policy for sex offender intervention and reintegration. External examiner: Dr. Kevin Nunes

Neil Hogan (Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, fall 2016). Assessing risk for inpatient violence on high-security psychiatric units. External examiner: Dr. Tonia Nicholls

Darryl Quinlan (M.A., Clinical Psychology, spring 2016). Is humor good for your health? Examining the associations of hostility and humor styles to resting blood pressure. External examiner: Dr. Kent Kowalski

Lindsay Sewall (Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, fall 2015). The treatment of psychopathic sexual offenders: Exploring the influence of risk change, subtype, and adaptation on recidivism. External examiner: Dr. Adelle Forth

Richard Coupland (Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, spring 2015). An examination of dynamic risk, protective factors, and treatment-related change in violent offenders. External examiner: Dr. Devon Polaschek

Matthew Burnett (Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, spring 2014). Psychopathy: Exploring Canadian mass newspaper representations thereof and violent offender talk thereon. External examiner: Dr. Thomas Dalby

Justina Sowden (Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, spring 2014). Examining the relationship of risk, treatment readiness, and therapeutic change to recidivism in a sample of treated sex offenders.  External examiner: Dr. Kevin Nunes

Danielle DeSorcy (Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, spring 2013). Working Alliance and its Relationship with Aboriginal Ancestry, Psychopathy, Treatment Completion, and Recidivism in a Sample of Federal Sex Offenders. (Co-supervised with Dr. Steve Wormith) External examiner: Dr. Guy Bourgon

Erika Rojas (Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, spring 2013). Violence Risk Assessment with Youth who have Sexually Offended: A Psychometric Examination of the Violence Risk Scale: Youth Sexual Offender Version (VRS: YSO). External examiner: Dr. James Worling

Previous Honors Students and Thesis Title (convocation year)

Jennifer Hegel (2020). Psychometric properties of the Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment in a Northern Saskatchewan population.

Jessica Prince (2020). Predicting Recidivism using the Level of Service Inventory-Saskatchewan Version: Implications for Gender and Ancestry.

Desiree Elchuk (2019). Mental health and offence-related behavior in pedohebephilic individuals: Associations with interpersonal relationships, sexual functioning, internalized pedophobia, and loneliness. (Co-supervised with Ian McPhail)

Emily Riemer (2019). Profiles of protective factors in psychopathic sexual offenders and their associations with treatment outcome. 

Ashley Coveney (2016). Examining the Interrelationships of Eating Behaviours, Personal Attitudes, and Stress Responses.

Tessa Dyer (2016). Self-Reported Psychopathy, Sexual Fantasies, Interests, and Behavioral Urges.

John-Etienne Myburgh (2015). Cluster analysis of rapist subtypes using the VRS-SO.

Andrea Guebert (2013). An Examination of Criminogenic Needs, Mental Health Concerns, and Substance Abuse in a Sample of Violent Young Offenders.

Samantha Riopka (2013). Self-Reported Psychopathy and its Association with Criminal Thinking Styles and Motivation to Change in a Sample of University Undergraduates. (Co-supervised with Richard Coupland)

Curtis Brad (2012). Psychological Characteristics of Sexual Murderers. (Co-supervised with Richard Coupland).

Ashley Viklund (2010). Validity and Reliability of the VRS-SO.

Marisha Wagner (2009). Cognitive Profiles and Criminal Behavior.

Donaldo Canales (2008). An Examination of the Concurrent Validity of Psychometric and Phallometric Measures of Sexual Deviance.

Adult Forensics Forensic Psychology Psychopathology Sex offender risk assessment and treatment criminal attitudes psychopathy recidivism prediction risk sexual deviance young offenders

Sexual violence risk assessment and treatment, psychopathy, human sexuality and sexual diversity, recidivism prediction, criminal attitudes, justice involved youth

My research interests are quite broad and varied. Essentially I am interested in anything having to do with correctional and forensic assessment and treatment, youth and adult. More specifically, I am interested in the assessment of recidivism risk and dangerousness and how risk can be managed or reduced and recidivism prevented. Of particular interest to me is how correctional populations make changes to their offending behavior, and to what extent these personal changes, especially if they are risk relevant, translate into subsequent reductions in recidivism. Much of my work has been with men who have histories of sexual offending, including to what extent increasing age (and aging) matters to mitigate risk, the effectiveness of specialized sexual offense treatment in reducing recidivism, and evaluating program-specific treatment change and its relationship to risk and recidivism reduction. These interests have extended to psychopathic persons and the extent to which this population can make risk related changes and move on to lives that are characterized by less violence. This body of work has occurred largely in partnership with the Correctional Service of Canada and the Regional Psychiatric Centre (RPC). I also have an interest in meta-analysis of applied issues in clinical-forensic psychology and have completed projects examining issues such as the predictive efficacy of major risk assessment tools with youth and adult justice populations, juvenile psychopathy, and the prediction of correctional treatment attrition and its relationship to recidivism.

B.A. (Hons), Simon Fraser University, 1997

Ph.D., University of Saskatchewan, 2003

Pre-doctoral internship, Department of Clinical Health Psychology, University of Manitoba, 2002-2003

Registered Doctoral Psychologist (SKCP #634) 2003-present (full practice with APE)