FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Multi-Health Systems Inc. acquires the Global Institute of Forensic Research™ Inc., creating a leader in the public safety market to drive knowledge forward through assessments, training, knowledge sharing of peer-reviewed research, and innovative assessment platforms.

Toronto, ON– October 5, 2017-Multi-Health Systems Inc. (MHS), a leading developer of innovative scientific technology solutions for measuring and predicting human performance, including the most widely used risk/needs assessments, announced the acquisition of the Global Institute of Forensic Research Inc. (GIFR™). The purchase represents MHS’s commitment to advance the knowledge of assessment, effective management, and treatment of offenders in the international criminal justice and public safety community.

Established in 2014, GIFR is a risk management and education software as a service company in behavioral healthcare. GIFR specializes in providing their clients with peer-reviewed research, high quality e-trainings, and fully digital and automated software solutions. The focus of GIFR’s solutions are on reducing violence and recidivism in criminal recidivism, sexual abuse, domestic violence, workplace violence, suicide, and terrorism.

Hazel Wheldon, President and COO of MHS, is excited to bring together MHS’s experience in the public safety market with GIFR’s cutting edge assessment platform, trainings, and research. “Together we will be positioned to service the global public safety and criminal justice industry, giving customers access to an organization that can support their key needs. The newly combined organization will provide a powerful offering of resources to the public safety industry.” Wheldon adds that this acquisition will further enhance MHS’s position as a leader in the industry by offering their customers a full suite of resources that will enhance their knowledge in assessment, management, and treatment of offenders.

Additional solutions MHS will be able to offer, include an executive bulletin communicating the latest research on forensic assessments. This is aimed to give public safety professionals the most current industry knowledge on emerging research and trends occurring in their field. MHS will also offer training and knowledge-sharing through in-person, live webinar, and on-demand training. This will enable front line agents to effectively use tools and to share progressive knowledge and insights about issues facing the criminal justice community. MHS will build upon GIFR’s existing informative training resources and will continue to work with a number of associations to offer continuing education (CE) credits.

As part of the transaction, MHS will offer commercial and public domain gold standard assessments, developed to support the effective management and rehabilitation of offenders, via a state of art online delivery system. This revolutionary risk assessment administration platform was developed with the input and guidance of over 2,000 risk assessors in over 40 countries. The platform was designed by an innovative software development team led by leading risk/needs assessment tool expert, Dr. Jay P. Singh.

“We are excited to add these innovative solutions to our suite of public safety products and look forward to providing our customers with insightful resources that will heighten their knowledge within the market” Wheldon says.

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About GIFR

The Global Institute of Forensic Research Inc. (GIFR) specializes in providing cutting-edge research, training, and software solutions to mental health, correctional, and legal professionals working in both general care and forensic settings around the world.

Dedicated to innovation, simplicity, and customer service, GIFR promotes evidence-based best practices and strives to improve both compliance and outcomes in assessment, treatment, and monitoring. GIFR is the largest provider of online training for risk/needs assessment tools.

About MHS

MHS publishes many of the best and most innovative assessments in the public safety market. These assessments are rigorous in their science, highly functional, and are also accessible regardless of a user’s level of education.

Included in MHS’s offering is the Level of Service tools, the most widely used risk/needs assessments in the world. These tools measure an offender’s likelihood to reoffend and guides users through the decision process that follows.

In addition, MHS publishes a number of tools for psychologists to support offenders on the behavioral health side. This includes the PCL-R™, a measure of psychopathy in adult forensic populations, the CEFI® Adult, a comprehensive measure of executive functioning skills in adults, and the Conners CPT3™, an assessment of attention-related problems.

MHS also publishes the Functional Assessment Systems™ (FAS™) tools which were acquired in 2012. This suite of four empirically-based assessments are designed to objectively determine a youth’s ability to function in a variety of settings. The FAS tools are industry-leading assessments that streamline the intake and goal making process to help practitioners maximize time with clients while engaging both youth and caregivers in a solution.

For More information:
Tammy Holwell
Manager of Public Safety
[email protected]
U.S.A.: 1 (800) 456-3003 Ext. 269
Canada: 1 (800) 268-6011 Ext. 269

The Global Institute of Forensic Research (GIFR) has signed a contract with the Council of State Governments (CSG) to provide CSG’s skilled staff access to GIFR’s Executive Bulletin service. The Council of State Governments is the only organization in the United States that serves all three branches of state government, and it provides a region-based forum that fosters the exchange of insights and ideas to help state officials shape public policy.

“We could not be happier to have the Council of State Governments as our customer and to supply them with the latest groundbreaking forensic risk assessment research each month in the form of our Executive Bulletin service. The Executive Bulletin strives to promote increased reliability and accuracy of risk assessments and encourages compliance with professional guidelines,” said GIFR Founder and CEO, Dr. Jay P. Singh.

The Global Institute of Forensic Research’s Executive Bulletin is a monthly, subscription-based service designed for mental health and criminal justice professionals who wish to stay up-to-date on groundbreaking research on adult and juvenile violence, sex offender, and general recidivism risk assessment. Subscribers receive access to one-page summaries of all risk assessment-related articles published in over 80 leading scientific journals as well as exclusive interviews with industry experts and training workshops eligible for Continuing Education Credit through both the American Psychological Association and the Canadian Psychological Association.

Internationally award-winning researcher, author, and lecturer, Jay P. Singh, PhD, was named “Norway’s Youngest Professor” in a formal assembly at Molde University College on April 30, 2014. Dr. Singh is based in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States, where he is an expert on the issue of mental illness and violence as well as founder of the Global Institute of Forensic Research. His recent appointment as Full Professor of Epidemiology & Violence Risk Assessment at Molde followed a global search for qualified candidates.

“I saw early on that [Singh] is a star. He is very enthusiastic and shines in the subject… Singh has quickly established himself as a key researcher in mental illness and violence,” said Dr. Stål Bjørkly, Professor of Clinical Psychology at Molde University College.

“The epidemiological research currently being conducted by scholars at Molde University College is revolutionizing the field of forensic risk assessment not only in Europe but around the world. It is a pleasure to be affiliated with this outstanding institution and to be able to contribute to its tradition of academic excellence,” said Dr. Singh.

Dr. Singh received his PhD in Psychiatry from the University of Oxford and has served as Senior Clinical Researcher for the Swiss Department of Justice in Zurich, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Mental Health Law and Policy at the University of South Florida, and as a Clinical Associate at Yale School of Medicine. His research projects have involved work in over 50 countries, resulting in over 45 peer-reviewed articles in some of the highest impact medical, psychiatric, and psychological journals. Dr. Singh has given invited lectures at Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Brown University, Dartmouth College, and the University of Pennsylvania. He has also received awards from professional organizations, including the American Psychology-Law Society, the European Congress on Violence in Clinical Psychiatry, and the Society for Research in Child Development.

In order to better reflect its commitment to international research and global policy engagement, the Singh Institute of Forensic Research has changed its name to the Global Institute of Forensic Research.

“We could not be more pleased with the international interest our services have received over the past few months. In light of this enthusiastic response and our desire to focus on promoting the rapid integration of research into practice worldwide, we are thrilled to move forward under our new name. Dedicated to innovation, simplicity, and customer service, our team of experts continue to develop products and services promoting evidence-based best practice and compliance in mental health and criminal justice settings,” said Founder and CEO, Dr. Jay P. Singh.