AAFDI are very pleased to announce that the inaugural winner for the Lifetime Achievement Award 2024 went to Dr Frank Lambrick.

Congratulations Frank!

The Lifetime Achievement award was introduced to recognise extraordinary contributions to forensic disability. The field is relatively newly recognised as an area of specialised practice and has evolved significantly over the past few decades. There has been little in the way of recognition and appreciation for those who have worked tirelessly to advance practice and policy for individuals with disability involved in the criminal justice system.

While many dedicated professionals collaborating and contributing to the field deserve to be recognised, we can only give one Lifetime Achievement Award. Our recipient for 2024 is widely recognised as having been an early pioneer of what we know as ‘forensic disability’ today, Dr Frank Lambrick is known and loved within the sector for his decades of dedication, innovation and passionate advocacy for forensic disability consumers. His achievements span across research, clinical practice and policy.

Beginning in the 1980’s, Dr Lambrick has worked tirelessly with individuals as a practitioner and as an academic who made significant contributions to specialised risk assessment and clinical treatment and later supported the sector as a whole as a Senior Practitioner in Victoria until his retirement.

Today, he continues educating practitioners and sector workers and continues to strive for ever improving services for forensic disability consumers. He has spearheaded significant reform in the use of restrictive practices. Decades of practitioners have been mentored and shaped by his work, and he has advanced forensic disability profoundly.

Dr Lambrick has therefore been selected to receive this first ever Lifetime Achievement Award from AAFDI, in gratitude and recognition of his remarkable contributions and stewardship of forensic disability.