Clients Who Lie Honestly: Treatment Strategies & Special Considerations
A client tells you something you know is not true. Not shaded, not exaggerated, not a version of events that flatters them. Not true. They say it with complete conviction, and when you gently put the evidence in front of them, they hold the account more firmly than before.
That last part is the tell. Confabulation is false memory produced with no intent to deceive, which makes it neither lying nor malingering, and the two responses clinicians reach for first, correcting and confronting, tend to entrench it. Jerrod Brown’s point is that most of us have had very little training in this, despite working every week with the populations where it is most common: acquired brain injury, dementia, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, and anyone carrying significant executive function impairment.
Two hours on what confabulation is and the forms it takes, the difference between the spontaneous kind and the kind your own questioning produces, the red flags to listen for during an assessment, and the territory that sits alongside it: suggestibility, gullibility, compliance and acquiescence. Brown is direct about the consequences, which are a treatment plan built on inaccurate information, a family who have decided their relative is lying to them, and in some settings a client whose account of events will not hold up.
You’ll walk away with
- A working distinction between confabulation, ordinary misremembering, malingering and delusion, and why each of the four calls for a different response from you
- Red flag indicators to listen for during an assessment interview, including what a client does when you correct them
- An understanding of how your own questioning provokes confabulation, and what to change about rapid-fire, closed and repeated questions
- The fact-checking habit that protects you when a client has a yes bias, or nods along without having followed what you said
- A named observation scale for confabulation, and the standard screening tool for alexithymia
- A clear view of the populations most at risk, and why fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in particular is so often missed
- Language for the family who have concluded their relative is lying to them, and are treating them accordingly
- The vulnerabilities that travel alongside confabulation, including gullibility, naivety and compliance, and what they mean for a client’s safety outside your room
- The interviewing adjustments that reduce it: pacing, visual supports, lowering working memory load and watching for sensory overload
- A sense of when to refer on to a neuropsychologist, neurologist or sensory specialist, and what you are asking them to rule out
Watch the course trailer
CPD Information For Mental Health Professionals
Enjoy complete flexibility with 100% self-paced learning you can access anytime, anywhere, and on any device. This course is included with your Tatra Training membership, along with every other course in the library.
Course Duration: 2 learning hours
Certificate and CPD hours: On completion you’ll receive a Certificate of Completion to support your CPD records. Your certificates are yours to keep.
Assessment: Complete a short quiz at the end (80% pass mark), which you can resit as many times as needed.
Revisit Anytime: Come back to the course as often as you like while your membership is active, whenever you want a refresher for practice.
CPD Eligibility: This program may be suitable for CPD for professionals such as:
- Psychologists
- Counsellors and Psychotherapists
- Social Workers
- Community Workers
- Mental Health Nurses
- General Practitioners (GPs)
- Occupational Therapists
CPD requirements vary between professional bodies, so please check with your association or credentialing body to confirm you can claim CPD hours/OPD points for this program and what evidence they require.
This training equips participants with the clinical knowledge and practical tools needed to:
- Understand and define confabulation, including its presentation in mental health treatment.
- Identify risk factors for confabulation at both the individual and environmental levels.
- Analyze the consequences of confabulation within mental health care settings.
- Explore implications for assessment and treatment strategies.
- Examine cutting-edge research on confabulation and discuss future research directions.
Target Audience
This course is tailored for mental health counselors, psychologists, social workers, drug and alcohol counselors, marriage and family therapists, telehealth treatment professionals, and other clinical mental health practitioners.
Course Content
Meet Your Instructor
Complex forensic cases involving neurodivergent individuals, traumatic brain injuries, or fetal alcohol spectrum disorders often leave practitioners feeling overwhelmed by the intersection of mental health, neuroscience, and criminal justice issues. Jerrod Brown has spent his career developing expertise at these critical intersections, becoming one of the few professionals who can navigate the complex interplay between brain-based conditions, trauma, and forensic presentations with both scientific rigor and practical application.
As Assistant Professor and Program Director of Forensic Behavioral Health at Concordia University, and Founder/CEO of the American Institute for the Advancement of Forensic Studies (AIAFS), Dr. Brown represents a unique integration of academic excellence and real-world forensic expertise. His extraordinary educational background - including four separate master's degrees, a Ph.D. in Psychology, and over a dozen specialised certifications ranging from Certified Functional Nutrition Counselor to Certified Neurodiversity Professional - demonstrates his commitment to understanding human behavior from multiple scientific perspectives. His co-editorship of Forensic Mental Health: A Source Guide for Professionals and role as Editor-in-Chief of Forensic Scholars Today reflect his leadership in advancing the field.
Dr. Brown's expertise spans forensic behavioral health, autism spectrum disorders, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, traumatic brain injury, neurocriminology, confabulation and suggestibility, trauma and resilience, and applied clinical nutrition. His approach recognises that many forensic presentations involve complex interactions between neurological conditions, trauma histories, and environmental factors that traditional psychological assessments miss. He specialises in cases where standard forensic evaluations fail to capture the full picture, particularly involving individuals with developmental disabilities, brain injuries, or conditions that affect memory and decision-making capacity.
What sets his training apart is interdisciplinary depth combined with practical application. Brown doesn't just teach from one theoretical perspective - he shows practitioners how neurological, nutritional, sleep, and trauma factors interact to create the complex presentations they encounter in forensic settings. His over 300 workshops and webinars demonstrate his exceptional ability to translate complex neuroscience into immediately applicable assessment and intervention strategies.
For your practice, expect to gain specialised knowledge in forensic neuropsychology, tools for assessing neurodivergent individuals in legal contexts, and frameworks for understanding how brain-based conditions affect criminal responsibility and treatment planning. His approach particularly benefits forensic psychologists, criminal justice professionals, or clinicians working with intellectually disabled or brain-injured populations.
Quick Win: Brown's "neurocriminology assessment framework" helps practitioners quickly identify when criminal behavior may be influenced by undiagnosed neurological conditions - often revealing mitigating factors that completely change case conceptualisation and intervention strategies.
Qualifications
- Ph.D., Psychology, Northcentral University, Scottsdale, AZ
- M.A., Counseling, Adler Graduate School, Richfield, MN
- M.S., Criminal Justice, St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN
- M.S., Special Studies in Forensic Studies, St. Cloud State University
- M.S., Special Studies in Cognitive Disorders, St. Cloud State University
- B.E.S., Applied Psychology and Psychology, St. Cloud State University
- Currently pursuing 5th M.S., Applied Clinical Nutrition, Northeast College of Health Sciences
Advanced Certifications & Certificates
- Post-Doctoral Certificate, Leadership and Organisational Strategy, Walden University, 2021
- Professional Certificate, Forensic Psychology, San Diego State University Global Campus, 2021
- Graduate Certificate, Neuroscience and Law, Michigan State University, current
- Graduate Certificates: Autism Spectrum Disorders, Other Health Disabilities, Traumatic Brain Injury (Hamline University)
- Graduate Certificates: Neuropsychology, Medical Biochemistry, Exercise Prescription, Dyslexia
- Diabetes Care and Education Certificate, Central Arizona College, 2023
Specialised Certifications
- Certified Functional Nutrition Counselor (CFNC)
- Certified Neurodiversity Professional
- Certified Kid's Nutrition Specialist
- Tobacco Treatment Specialist (Mayo Clinic)
- Brain Health Coach
- Certified Digestive Health Specialist
- Gut Health Specialist
- Certified Sleep Science Coach
- Integrative Adult Sleep Coach
- Holistic Health Coach
- Stress and Mindset Coach
Leadership & Teaching
- Assistant Professor & Program Director, Forensic Behavioral Health and Trauma, Resilience, and Self Care Strategies, Concordia University, St. Paul, MN
- Founder & CEO, American Institute for the Advancement of Forensic Studies (AIAFS)
- Editor-in-Chief, Forensic Scholars Today (FST)
- Faculty, Walden University
- Presenter, CONCEPT Professional Training, Palo Alto University
Training & Speaking
- Over 300 workshops, webinars, and on-demand trainings conducted
- National and international speaking engagements
- Professional and student audience presentations
- Conference presentations at various organisations
Clinical Specialties
- Forensic assessments involving neurodevelopmental conditions
- Autism spectrum disorder in forensic contexts
- Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and criminal justice implications
- Traumatic brain injury and competency evaluations
- Confabulation and suggestibility in legal proceedings
- Miranda rights comprehension issues
- Youth firesetting assessment and intervention
- Criminal recidivism risk factors and prevention
Ready to develop expertise in the complex intersection of neuroscience, mental health, and criminal justice? Discover how Dr. Brown's interdisciplinary approach can enhance your ability to conduct comprehensive forensic assessments and provide effective interventions for the most challenging cases.
Feedback & Reviews
This course includes:
- Lessons 3
- Topics 0
- Duration 2 hours
- Quizzes 1
- Language English