Mental Health Advance Directives: Utilizing Oregon’s Declaration of Mental Health Treatment form with Clients

Mental Health Advance Directives: Utilizing Oregon’s Declaration of Mental Health Treatment with Clients **2 NASW CEUs pending**

Join us for a free workforce development training by: Dr. Andrea Avila

Dr. Andrea Avila, JD, PhD (pronouns: she/her/hers) is an assessment psychologist at Oregon State Hospital. In that role, she conducts psychological assessments for diagnostic clarity, personality assessment, treatment recommendations, violence/stalking risk assessment, and cognitive challenges. She is also a Certified Forensic Evaluator and periodically completes forensic evaluations at OSH as well as in private practice. Dr. Avila completed her JD/PhD at University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the serious mental illness (SMI) research group with Dr. Will Spaulding with concentrations in forensics, statistics, and criminal law. She completed her internship with OSH-PIP and a forensic fellowship at Patton State Hospital. She then returned to OSH to work in FES for two years before transitioning to her current position. Her past experience includes community mental health programs with coordinated service provision, outpatient individual therapy, corrections, and probation department projects, as well as state hospital work. She has several published peer-reviewed journal articles, law review articles, and book/textbook chapters, as well as ongoing research projects. She served as co-chair for the 2023 AP-LS conference and was selected as an editorial fellow in 2024 for Psychology, Public Policy, and Law. Her interests include mental health advanced directives, improving the utility and scientific rigor of general and forensic assessments, developing and testing comprehensive treatment services for people with SMI, and development of law/policy that reflects evidenced-based practices and a recovery orientation for people with SMI.