Multi-Health Systems Inc. acquires the Global Institute of Forensic Research™ Inc.

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Oct 10, 2017, 11:00 ET

Creating a leader in the public safety market to drive knowledge forward through assessments, training, knowledge sharing of peer-reviewed research, and innovative assessment platforms.

TORONTO, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Multi-Health Systems Inc. (MHS), a leading developer of innovative scientific technology solutions for measuring and predicting human performance, including the most widely used risk/needs assessments, announced the acquisition of the Global Institute of Forensic Research Inc. (GIFR™). The purchase represents MHS's commitment to advance the knowledge of assessment, effective management, and treatment of offenders in the international criminal justice and public safety community.

Established in 2014, GIFR is a risk management and education software as a service company in behavioral healthcare. GIFR specializes in providing their clients with peer-reviewed research, high quality e-trainings, and fully digital and automated software solutions. The focus of GIFR's solutions are on reducing violence and recidivism in criminal recidivism, sexual abuse, domestic violence, workplace violence, suicide, and terrorism.

Hazel Wheldon, President and COO of MHS, is excited to bring together MHS's experience in the public safety market with GIFR's cutting edge assessment platform, trainings, and research. "Together we will be positioned to service the global public safety and criminal justice industry, giving customers access to an organization that can support their key needs. The newly combined organization will provide a powerful offering of resources to the public safety industry." Wheldon adds that this acquisition will further enhance MHS's position as a leader in the industry by offering their customers a full suite of resources that will enhance their knowledge in assessment, management, and treatment of offenders.

Additional solutions MHS will be able to offer, include an executive bulletin communicating the latest research on forensic assessments. This is aimed to give public safety professionals the most current industry knowledge on emerging research and trends occurring in their field. MHS will also offer training and knowledge-sharing through in-person, live webinar, and on-demand training. This will enable front line agents to effectively use tools and to share progressive knowledge and insights about issues facing the criminal justice community. MHS will build upon GIFR's existing informative training resources and will continue to work with a number of associations to offer continuing education (CE) credits.

As part of the transaction, MHS will offer commercial and public domain gold standard assessments, developed to support the effective management and rehabilitation of offenders, via a state of art online delivery system. This revolutionary risk assessment administration platform was developed with the input and guidance of over 2,000 risk assessors in over 40 countries. The platform was designed by an innovative software development team led by leading risk/needs assessment tool expert, Dr. Jay P. Singh.

"We are excited to add these innovative solutions to our suite of public safety products and look forward to providing our customers with insightful resources that will heighten their knowledge within the market," Wheldon says.

About GIFR
The Global Institute of Forensic Research Inc. (GIFR) specializes in providing cutting-edge research, training, and software solutions to mental health, correctional, and legal professionals working in both general care and forensic settings around the world.

Dedicated to innovation, simplicity, and customer service, GIFR promotes evidence-based best practices and strives to improve both compliance and outcomes in assessment, treatment, and monitoring. GIFR is the largest provider of online training for risk/needs assessment tools.

About MHS
MHS publishes many of the best and most innovative assessments in the public safety market. These assessments are rigorous in their science, highly functional, and are also accessible regardless of a user's level of education.

Included in MHS's offering is the Level of Service tools, the most widely used risk/needs assessments in the world. These tools measure an offender's likelihood to reoffend and guides users through the decision process that follows.

In addition, MHS publishes a number of tools for psychologists to support offenders on the behavioral health side. This includes the PCL-R™, a measure of psychopathy in adult forensic populations, the CEFI® Adult, a comprehensive measure of executive functioning skills in adults, and the Conners CPT3™, an assessment of attention-related problems.

MHS also publishes the Functional Assessment Systems™ (FAS™) tools which were acquired in 2012. This suite of four empirically-based assessments are designed to objectively determine a youth's ability to function in a variety of settings. The FAS tools are industry-leading assessments that streamline the intake and goal making process to help practitioners maximize time with clients while engaging both youth and caregivers in a solution.

SOURCE Multi-Health Systems Inc.