Continuing & Professional Studies, Palo Alto University

Michelle Guyton co-owns the Northwest Forensic Institute, providing evaluations and education in forensic psychology since 2008. She is a licensed psychologist and certified forensic evaluator in Oregon. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degree in psychology at Sam Houston State University and her doctorate at the University of Utah. She is one of five board-certified forensic psychologists in the state and the first female to hold this status. In Oregon since 2005, Dr. Guyton worked at the School of Graduate Psychology at Pacific University in Hillsboro, Oregon for ten years. There she functioned as an assistant then tenured associate professor, director of the forensic track, and in other administrative capacities. She and her students presented papers and posters at a variety of regional, national, and international conferences focused on forensic and correctional psychology. She has published in the area of violence risk assessment, inmates’ adjustment to prison, and forensic assessment instruments. Dr. Guyton also worked at the Oregon Department of Corrections where she provided treatment and assessment services to male and female inmates with serious mental illnesses. Dr. Guyton is the director of the Oregon Forensic Evaluator Training Program since its inception in 2012, a state-contracted program that provides initial and recertification trainings for evaluators conducting competency and criminal responsibility evaluations. She is the training director for NWFI’s postdoctoral fellowship and practicum student programs. Dr. Guyton also provides trainings to forensic mental health professionals, lawyers, judges, and other justice-related agencies. She provides consultation to attorneys, government agencies, and other psychologists. In the criminal forensic domain, she conducts evaluations that focus on fitness to proceed, criminal responsibility, sentencing, other competency issues, violence and psychosexual risk assessments. Dr. Guyton also conducts evaluations in the civil domain, including IMEs, personal injury, testamentary capacity, and fitness-for-duty evaluations.