Prof. Dr. Christopher D. Webster (Canada)

chrisWebster Christopher D. Webster, Ph.D., FRSC, C.Psych. received his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Dalhousie University in 1967. After a few years as a Research Scientist at the then Addiction Research Foundation in Toronto, he moved to the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry and coordinated research and clinical programs for children with severe developmental and conduct problems.

In 1975 he was appointed Professor and Director of the School of Child and Youth Care at the University of Victoria. Returning to Toronto in 1977, he was again appointed a Research Scientist at the Clarke Institute and also Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Criminology. It was during this period that he developed an interest in forensic mental health, with emphasis on violence risk assessment and treatment. He was as well Head of Psychology at the Institute between 1986 and 1992. In 1993, he was appointed Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia.

In addition to several books and numerous articles, he has, in recent years, published with colleagues in Vancouver and Toronto a number of practical manuals for use by mental health and correctional practitioners that focus on the broad-based screening of violence (HCR-20), sex offenders (SVR-20), aggressive children under 12 years old (EARL-20B, EARL-21G) and the Short Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START). The approach underlying these manuals has been to draw clinicians and researchers together in order to establish guides that are scientifically defensible and based on sound professional practice. Since 1997 he has developed an international research and training consulting practice in the area of risk assessment and management. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association, the American Psychological Association, and the Royal Society of Canada.

At Simon Fraser University he is Professor Emeritus of Psychology, and at the University of Toronto, he is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry. He is a Senior Research Consultant at workplace.calm, inc. With Hy Bloom and others, he has published the Workplace Risk Assessment-20 (WRA-20) and the Employee Risk Assesssment-20 (ERA-20) guides. His latest book (with Stephen Hucker) is Violence risk assessment and management (UK: Wiley, 2007) and his latest edited book (with Hy Bloom) is Essential Writings in Violence Risk Assessment and Management (Toronto: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 2007).