Overview
Extremist ideologies flourish in situations where there is mounting distrust between a government and its population. This has been compounded in the current pandemic by disinformation and greater access and vulnerability to fringe messaging. The pandemic has seen an increase in reported incidents involving Sovereign Citizens, who have a complex anti-government ideology. This presentation will highlight possible reasons for the increased use of Sovereign strategies in these unsettled times. It will provide an historical overview of the Sovereign Citizen Movement and its various idiosyncrasies. The webinar will consider the risks posed by Sovereign Citizens in Australia and the importance of recognising their language and behaviour. The presentation will emphasise the relevance of these individuals to mental health professionals, lawyers and police, and consider management approaches.
Where and When
Date: 23 September 2020
Time: 18:00pm - 19:15pm
Time Zone: UTC+10 (Australian Eastern Standard Time)
Webinar via Zoom
Learning Outcome
1. To understand the significance of Sovereign Citizens in our professions
2. To recognise and appropriately respond to Sovereign Citizens and Sovereign Citizen tactics
Presenter(s)
Professor Michele Pathé
Affiliations/Organisations
Swinburne University of Technology and Forensicare
About the presenter(s)
Michele Pathé is Professor of Forensic Psychiatry at Swinburne University and a sessional Consultant Psychiatrist at Forensicare. She is based at the Victorian Fixated Threat Assessment Centre (VFTAC), situated in the Counter Terrorism Command of Victoria Police. She has a longstanding clinical and research interest in stalking behaviours, threats, pathological grievances and lone actor extremism. She was instrumental in the establishment of the world’s first FTAC in the UK, then in Queensland, Canberra and Victoria. She has consulted to New Zealand and other Australian states and territories in the establishment of fixated threat assessment capabilities in those jurisdictions. She provides training to general and forensic mental health, law enforcement, security, judicial and correctional audiences, as well as government officials and the education sector. She has authored three books, several book chapters and over 100 peer reviewed journal articles. She is a co-author of the stalking risk assessment tool, the Stalking Risk Profile, as well as threat assessment tools used in FTAC settings.
Fees
- Free for APATAP members
- $25 for non-members
Delivery mode
Due to social distancing restrictions, all current APATAP professional development sessions will be delivered via Zoom.
Suitable Audience
This presentation may be of interest to mental health, health, judiciary, police, intelligence analysts.
Duration
1 hours(60 minutes) + 15 minutes Q&A
.png)