Experienced trauma-focused forensic psychologist

I provide expert witness testimony, education/training, and testimony for attorneys in the state, federal (criminal and civilian), and military courts.  I have specialized expertise in criminal cases involving abuse, trauma, and interpersonal violence, e.g., (domestic, battered person/woman syndrome, battered child syndrome, domestic/family homicide, post-partum depression and violence, and sexual violence), and I regularly provide consultation, training, and educational testimony in prosecutions for child sexual abuse, adult sexual assault, stalking, and domestic violence cases.  I consider not only the impacts of trauma on mental health conditions and diagnoses but also the non-diagnosable harmful consequences of trauma, e.g., posttraumatic cognitions, alterations in worldview, moral injury, and institutional betrayal.

I also provide forensic testimony in criminal (in the case in chief and at sentencing) based on evaluations or case reviews I have conducted.

I work on employment cases involving workplace sexual assault and harassment, racial discrimination, and wrongful termination cases based on various issues, including race, gender, sex, grooming, and whistleblowing.  My work in civil personal injury cases involves adults sexually victimized as minors and sexually assaulted by trusted others, resulting in institutional betrayal as clergy, teachers, medical professionals, law enforcement and corrections officers, mental health professionals, and massage professionals, domestic violence, as well as harms resulting from non-interpersonal trauma.    I work for both prosecutors and defense attorneys in criminal cases as well as for both plaintiffs and defense in personal injury and employment contexts. 

Having spent much of my career in academia, I rely heavily on current social science research to support my forensic evaluation findings and to craft expert testimony that is both current and evidence-based.   Also, having been a professor for many years, I find testifying second nature.  It's like teaching, but no one asks for "extra credit."

Licensed in CA, HI, and MN as well as in 41 PSYPACT (temporary in person practice in authorized states).