Senior Court Clinician/ Psychologist

About the role

Working within the Court Clinic of the Barnstable Division of the Probate and Family Court, the Senior Court Clinician provides family evaluations for the Probate and Family Court and regularly consults with the Judges and court staff as needed.

Responsibilities

• Interview and assess adults, children and adolescents regarding family relationships, psychological problems and needs, behavioral problems, substance abuse, safety concerns and capacities for mutual cooperation.
• Conduct psychological evaluations of litigants and parties as requested by the judges, including specialized interviews with minor children and assessing the impact of their family situations, and the existing custody and parenting access, on their social, cognitive, academic, emotional and psychological functioning.
• Perform in-depth clinical evaluations and make recommendations regarding custody and parenting access in high-conflict divorce or separation proceedings, including situations involving domestic violence, restraining orders, severe mental illness, child abuse and/or substance abuse.
• Evaluate the basis for allegations regarding the safety of children and parents in the context of past history and current allegations of domestic violence in families, some with past or current Restraining Orders.
• Evaluate the basis for allegations regarding past history and current questions of Alcohol and Substance Abuse, and the impact of such abuse on the relationships between parents and their children.
• Facilitate parent-child reunification in situations of prolonged separation, estrangement and/or alienation.
• Supervise parenting time in acute circumstances when parent-child contact would otherwise not occur due to serious concerns about physical and/or psychological safety.
• Facilitate and monitor compliance with Custody and Parenting Access Orders in particularly psychologically vulnerable, volatile families, as an alternative to repeated and prolonged litigation.
• Perform legal competency, dangerousness and risk-assessment evaluations, including on an emergency basis.
• Interview individual minor children upon specific Court Orders and convey their voices to the Court orally and/or in written reports.
• Perform mental status evaluations of adults and children when necessary.
• Interview collateral contacts, usually by telephone, and gather and review relevant criminal, academic, medical, mental health, police, DCF, and other documentation.
• Prepare and write concise, relevant reports regarding all the above functions for the Court, and provide oral testimony for the Court when required.
• Perform a variety of administrative duties for the Court Clinic as necessary.
• Supervise, facilitate and assist clinical psychology graduate students and post-doctoral child psychiatry fellows completing their training, in their becoming competent in many of the forensic functions and evaluations described above.
• Take full professional, administrative, clinical, ethical and legal responsibility for supervisees' cases.
• Perform related duties as required.

Qualifications

Applicants must have either:

• A Doctorate in Psychology and two years of full time or equivalent part time professional post-doctoral clinical experience (preferred); or
• A MSW and four years of full time or equivalent part time professional post-MSW clinical experience.

All educational degrees must be from an accredited educational institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

Requirements

• A current license as Psychologist under the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Psychology or a current LICSW in the State of Massachusetts.
• Considerable training and experience interviewing children and families.

Pay

$95,509.95

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