Forensic Psychological Assessments – Melbourne

Independent Expert Opinion for Legal and Court Matters

At Back on Track Psychology, we provide forensic psychological assessments in Melbourne that assist courts, lawyers, tribunals, and government bodies to understand the psychological factors associated with offending, mental illness, substance use, and rehabilitation.

Our assessments offer independent clinical opinions grounded in empirical research, and are conducted by experienced forensic psychologists who understand the sensitivities and complexities of the justice system.

Comprehensive Risk and Forensic Assessments

We assess a range of psychological and behavioural factors relevant to offending, including:

• Developmental and psychosocial history
• Mental health and cognitive functioning
• Personality, coping skills and emotional regulation
• Drug and alcohol use
• Insight, empathy and remorse
• Criminogenic risk factors and protective factors
• Motivation for rehabilitation

We also provide expert opinion on treatment needs, risk of reoffending, and readiness for community reintegration.

Offence-Specific Psychological Assessments

We offer tailored forensic assessments for a wide range of offences:

✦ Sexual Offences

Clients charged with sexual offences often face high levels of stigma, social isolation, and mental health challenges. Our psychologists offer confidential, trauma-informed, and evidence-based assessments, including the use of structured risk assessment tools such as the STATIC-99R and RSVP.

We also provide offence-specific treatment used within both community and correctional settings, to support rehabilitation and reduce recidivism risk.

✦ Driving Offences

From drink-driving and licence breaches to culpable driving causing death, we provide psychological assessments to clarify the role of mental health, substance use, trauma, and risk in the offending behaviour.

We also offer tailored psychological treatment to support insight development, trauma recovery, and relapse prevention, particularly for individuals struggling with grief or psychological distress after a driving offence.

✦ Violent Offences

We conduct in-depth assessments of individuals charged with violent offences, including family violence, assaults, and even acts of terrorism.

Our assessments explore early life experiences, substance use, trauma, and mental health. We use validated violence risk tools such as the HCR-20v3, and provide clear, structured clinical opinions to aid legal decision-making around sentencing, parole, and rehabilitation.

✦ Drug and Alcohol Offences

Forensic assessments of substance-related offending examine the interaction between addiction, trauma, mental health and criminal behaviour. We have extensive experience treating and assessing individuals who misuse alcohol, methamphetamines, cannabis, and other substances—often with co-occurring psychiatric conditions.

We collaborate with medical professionals where required and can recommend or deliver therapeutic interventions for substance use and relapse prevention.

✦ Immigration & Character Assessments

Our psychologists are experienced in preparing reports for the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) and Department of Home Affairs regarding risk of recidivism, character references, and psychological functioning relevant to visa and residency matters.

We take care to ensure assessments are culturally sensitive and informed by validated risk and personality tools. Our findings can support character references, non-refoulement claims, and visa appeals.

✦ Other Offences and Custom Reports

Our team also provides assessments across a wide range of other offence types, including arson, stalking, harassment, and public order offences. Each assessment is tailored to the referral question and conducted with utmost professionalism and care.

Referral Process & Important Notes

We welcome referrals from:

• Lawyers and legal representatives
• Courts and tribunals
• Parole and correctional services
• Government and statutory bodies

🔺 Please note:

• We do not accept self-referrals for forensic assessments.
• All forensic referrals must come through a lawyer or official representative.
• Due to ethical, legal, and clinical considerations, some referrals may not be accepted following an initial screening of the case information.

We are committed to maintaining the independence and integrity of our assessments and reserve the right to decline a referral where appropriate.