Medical College of Georgia
Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior
Medical College of Georgia
Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior: Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities
Dr. Cassandra Groth is an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior at Augusta University. She is a psychologist on one of the inpatient forensic units at East Central Regional Hospital (ECRH). She provides treatment services, conducts forensic evaluations, and supervises trainees. Dr. Groth received her BS in Psychology, Criminal Justice, and Human Services from Elmira College, and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, with a concentration in forensic psychology, from Nova Southeastern University. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at the Federal Correctional Complex in Butner, North Carolina with rotations focused on forensic evaluations and the treatment of chronically ill and forensic populations. Before joining the staff at ECRH, Dr. Groth completed her post-doctoral fellowship in forensics and worked as a licensed psychologist at Larned State Hospital in Kansas. She has published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at professional conferences. Her research interests include intimate partner violence and trauma in incarcerated populations, ECT in forensic populations, competency restoration, the death penalty, and false confessions.
Dr. Groth teaches topics related to clinical and forensic psychology, such as competency to stand trial evaluations, treatment team work in competency restoration, insanity evaluations, parallel evaluations, court testimony, and working with individuals with personality disorders and serious mental illnesses. She is also involved in teaching medical students about critical thinking skills, teamwork, holistic psychosocial care of the patient, self-care, and positive communication skills.
In her clinical work, Dr. Groth focuses on forensic aspects of psychology. She is a team psychologist on a forensic unit with a caseload of justice-involved patients. She also completes court-ordered evaluations and testifies in court as an expert witness. Her research focuses on various topics such as medical student curriculum, extremist/terrorist groups, ECT in forensic patients, clinical care on forensic units, competency to stand trial evaluations, and inpatient competency restoration.
