Counter-terrorism and mental health
Schedule
Thu Sep 04 2025 at 10:00 am to 11:30 am
UTC+02:00Location
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs | Oslo, OS
We are looking into experiences and challenges from the UK’s Counter Terrorism Clinical Consultancy Service.SIGN UP HERE: https://nupinytt.wufoo.com/forms/m270l6r0bhnsh0/
Counter-terrorism, including prevention, has long struggled with how to approach individuals with mental health concerns. Moreover, in the UK and elsewhere, the number of people with apparently ill mental health within counter terrorism casework has increased over the past few years. Sometimes, multiagency cooperation can be made difficult by a lack of understanding of diagnoses and symptomology among police and law enforcement – and lack of knowledge of terrorism-related risk among health workers. Issues around classification and secrecy, as well as medical confidentiality and privacy are important concerns sometimes further complicating information sharing and cooperation.
In the UK, the Counter Terrorism Clinical Consultancy Service (CT CCS) was established to address these challenges. The CCS aims to aid information sharing between health professionals and police, to assist in better assessing risk and identify appropriate interventions.
This seminar will include Dr. Richard Taylor and Detective Chief Inspector Mike Nelson outlining their experiences with running the CCS. They will discuss topics such multiagency cooperation and information sharing, and individual factors they see as contributing to risk and management of convicted terrorists with mental disorders.
Dr. Richard Taylor is a forensic psychiatrist who has worked in secure hospitals and prisons since the early 1990s. Since 2002 he has assessed a range of terrorist detainees including both group and lone actors. From 2017 he worked in the pilot counter terrorism mental health liaison service, the Vulnerability Support Hub (VSH). In 2024 he became National Clinical Lead for the CCS.
DCI Mike Nelson has worked in Counter Terrorism since 2004 across investigations, prevention and intelligence. In recent years he has worked across policy areas relating to foreign terrorist fighters, children and young people and currently leads the UK CT multiagency teams under the CCS and the Interventions centre of expertise.
Dr. Jacob Aasland Ravndal, associate professor at The Norwegian Police University College, will be a discussant at the event.
The event will not be streamed. It is hosted by the Consortium for Terrorism Research and held at NUPI, Rosenkrantz gate 22, Oslo.
