Amy Watson
Associate professor of social work
Biography
Amy Watson. Photo: Jenny Fontaine/UIC Public Affairs (click on image for larger file size)
By examining the mental health and criminal justice systems, Amy Watson is learning how professionals can respond more safely, respectfully and effectively to persons with mental illnesses and improve outcomes for individuals and communities.
She has examined mental health courts, police attitudes about people with mental illnesses, the experiences of such people in police encounters, and the crisis-intervention-team model of police response.
She is also interested in the stigma of mental illness. As the former project director of the Chicago Consortium for Stigma Research, she coordinated studies of public stigma, self-stigma and stigma-change strategies.
Subject areas:
- Law enforcement response to persons with mental illnesses
- Mental illness stigma
- Mental health policy
