Dr. Childress Vitae

I will be examining the vitaes of the professionals surrounding court-involved family conflict and attachment pathology.  I will begin with my own.

I am entering a period of court testimony.  It is the obligation of the court to evaluate my credibility.  In some cases, I may be testifying in opposition to other asserted “experts” both in forensic psychology (such as the “child custody evaluator” or “reunification therapist” – there is no such thing) or a Gardernian PAS experts, such as Dr. Bernet, Ms. Woodall, Ms. Baker, Ms. Gottlieb, or Dr. Lorandos.

In many cases, our opinions and our testimony will disagree.  The courts will need to make a determination of our respective credibility when our opinions disagree.  Credibility is grounded in vitae, in one’s professional education, training, and experience – this is represented on the professional vitae.

Most non-psychologists cannot read a professional psychology vitae for its substance, areas of fluff and insubstantial entries can be misinterpreted as having more value than they actually convey.  In addition, the background training, education, and experience with specific pathologies speaks to the Boundaries of Competence of the mental health professional (Standard 2.01a of the APA ethics code), which bears again directly on credibility in opinions formed and offered about a specific type of pathology.

The final area of concern addressed by this review of professional vitaes is potential exploitation of a vulnerable population, parents in court-involved child custody conflicts who are in desperate need of professional diagnosis and treatment.  Self-asserted “expertise” by charlatans and frauds preys on this vulnerable population, it is time to review asserted professional “expertise” for accuracy and truthfulness.

In my peer-review of professional vitaes I am also open myself to this same peer-review from my colleagues.  I welcome and invite this peer-review of my professional background as appropriate for establishing both my credibility and my boundaries of professional competence.

I will start with a review of my professional vitae. This will stand as both my offer of professional credibility in my professional opinions and will serve as comparison when I review the professional vitaes of my colleagues.

This is my vitae review for myself, Dr. Childress.

Structure of My Vitae Presentation

I organized my professional vitae into four main domains, and I will discuss each area in turn;

1.)  Entry Orientation Page

2.)  Work Experience

3.)  Training Received

4.)  Training Provided

Of first note is that my doctoral degree is a Psy.D. (Doctor of Psychology) not a Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy).  I am specialized in my education and training on clinical psychology, pathology, and its diagnosis and treatment.   This has implications.

Psy.D vs. Ph.D. Vitaes

Many doctoral vitaes have a Research section, I don’t.  My doctoral degree is a Psy.D. not a Ph.D.  This means that I sacrificed the Research side of my vitae for increased education, training, and knowledge about pathology and treatment.  Instead of receiving doctoral training in research methodology and statistics as does a Ph.D doctoral student, a Psy.D. doctorate replaces the research and statistics training with additional education and training in pathology and its treatment.

This makes the Psy.D. doctorate the most advanced pathology and treatment degree possible, more advanced regarding pathology and its treatment than a Ph.D. degree in clinical psychology.

A Psy.D. will never hold major university appointments because we sacrificed the research side of our vitaes, and hence any chance of university appointments, by selecting to increase our professional skills, knowledge, and expertise in clinical pathology and its treatment.  We are active treatment providers, not researchers at a university, not partially trained therapists.

This sacrifice of research for increased knowledge about pathology and its treatment that’s obtained through a Psy.D. clinical psychology doctoral program has a cascading effect into future training, a further extension of the specialized professional expertise of the Psy.D. doctoral education as more training is received.

All doctorate degrees in clinical psychology require two full years of supervised experience for licensure, one year prior to being awarded the doctoral degree (the “predoctoral internship” year) and one year of supervised experience after receiving the doctorate (the “post-doctoral” training  year).

Note:  I had two years of supervised post-doctoral training at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, an additional training year beyond that required for licensure (see dates on CHLA Post-Doctoral training).

Note:  A licensed Master’s degree therapist only has one year of supervised training total (as compared to my three years of supervised training prior to licensure). In addition to the increased years of education in a doctoral program over a Master’s program, I also have three times as much supervised training as a Master’s level clinician.

Education prepares a clinical psychologist, but it only partially teaches, which is the reason for two years of required supervised training.  The pathology teaches. The assessment of pathology teaches its features, treatment teaches the pathology’s core.  The prior education provides the information needed to benefit from the pathology’s instruction, but it is the pathology itself, not the books and classes, that teaches.

Note: Boundaries of professional competence are always based on direct work experience, not reading about it in a book or taking a course about the pathology.  In clinical psychology, direct treatment experience is the mark for Boundaries of Competence (Standard 2.01a).

When a Psy.D. enters the first predoctoral training year, the preparations in educational background and surrounding coursework for treating pathology are stronger than those of the Ph.D. student who devoted coursework to research methodoloty and statistics.  While they were being trained in research methodology and statistics, we were receiving additional education and training in pathology and its treatment – that is our specialty focus for a Psy.D. doctorate – we know more to start with, at the beginning of our direct supervised training year.

This means that the Psy.D. doctorate is better prepared and better able to take advantage of the pathology’s direct instruction regarding its features and its core, since our educational preparation for this instruction directly from the pathology is more complete and advanced relative to the education and training received by a Ph.D. doctorate.

The more advanced preparation received by the Psy.D. doctorate means that we learn more during our internship year than does the Ph.D. clinician, who is less prepared for pathology and its treatment.  So the advantage to a Psy.D. degree becomes even larger by the end of the first predoctoral internship year.

When a Psy.D. and a Ph.D. emerge from their predoctoral training year, the gap between their knowledge has widened because of the better preparation of the Psy.D. for the internship training experience.

This gulf between the knowledge and professional expertise of the Psy.D. and Ph.D. becomes even larger with the post-doctoral training year.  The improved preparation of the Psy.D., both by education and then further increased by the predoctoral internship year, now once again places this student at a more advanced position to benefit from the post-doctoral training.

Psy.D. doctorates learn more in the post-doctoral training year than Ph.D. doctorates.  We emerge substantially better educated, skilled, and trained in clinical pathology and its treatment than the Ph.D. degree. That is why we sacrifice the Research sides of our vitaes, that is why we sacrifice all hope of university appointments, and all goals for personal advancement within that domain.

Psy.D. doctorates are the best clinical psychologists, assessing, diagnosing, and treating.  We are better than Ph.D. doctorates at all three aspects of pathology.  Ph.D. doctorates are better at conducting research studies and they are able to teach at universities, and they also can treat patients reasonable well.  Psy.D. psychologist are the best clinical psychologists.

My vitae is a Psy.D. vitae, a specialist professional in pathology, its assessment, diagnosis, and treatment.

Child Versus Adult Psychology

Another important consideration in training and on the vitae is the focus on adults or children in treatment (and families if the focus is on children).

All clinical psychologists and Master’s level therapists are first trained in adult pathology, adult diagnosis, and adult treatment models.  This is because they start their education and training knowing nothing, and children are complex and require specialized expertise.  So all education and training in clinical psychology begins with adult treatment models.

The clinical psychology doctoral student must actively seek out training opportunities with children (and families). The first place this shows on the vitae is in the selection of the predoctoral internship, was it adult-oriented or was it a child treatment internship?.  This is followed by the post-doctoral training year, was it an adult-oriented placement or child placement?

Note:  My pre-doctoral internship year and my two years of post-doctoral training were all with Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles – a strong child-oriented training.

Childhood is a period of rapid maturation and development, and treating children involves a complex blend of factors,

1.) The Pathology:  The nature of the pathology is of direct influence, whether it is ADHD-spectrum, autism-spectrum, trauma-spectrum, eating disorders, substance abuse, etc., will all determine the scope of professional expertise needed for each type of pathology.

2.)  Developmental Stage:  Childhood is a period of rapid and continual maturation that is both structured by bio-social factors and is dependent upon individual variations with the child.  New brain systems open up and become available on a two-year period of maturational development (ages 2-4 toddler; 4-6 kindergarten; 6-8 early school years; 8-10 later school years; 10-12 preadolescent; 12-14 puberty; 14-16 mid-adolescence; 16-18 later adolescence).

All pathology will be influenced in its expression by both the age of the child and the unique development challenges of that specific period of development.  To work across the spectrum of childhood requires advanced expertise in all the shifting factors of maturation in association with the specific child pathology.

3.) Family Factors:  All children are deeply embedded in a family, with primary attachment bonds to mother and father, and secondary attachment bonds, to a greater or lesser degree, into extended family.  The maturation of the child’s neural networks for all psychological, emotional, and cognitive function expects experiences in the parent-child relationship (called “experience-expectant” maturation) and requires these experiences for healthy developmental maturation (called “experience-dependent” maturation).

Pathology and developmental age (the developmental challenges of that maturational period) are both further embedded into complex family relationships among multiple people, each having personal needs formed in their families of orgin.  The primary focus of family factors centers on the quality and nature of the child’s bonding and relationship to mother and father (mother-son, mother-daughter, father-son, father-daughter – each is unique – each is essential).

My background and training are entirely in child and family therapy across all age ranges, including an early childhood mental health specialty (ages 0-5), school-age years, and adolescence.

1) Entry Orientation Page

Education

I begin my vitae by listing my Education –  A Psy.D. Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University, a Master’s Degree in Community/Clinical Psychology from California State University, Northridge, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from UCLA.

Of note is that the Community Psychology component of my Master’s degree was instruction and training in addressing pathology by changing community structures, such as solving family conflict pathology by altering the community structures of the mental health and legal systems surrounding the family conflct pathology.

I have specific background education and training for specifically this task of changing the mental health system and legal system as a treatment intervention for family conflict pathology.  This Master’s degree training in the Community Psychology component also involved direct education and training in Organizational Development consulting (improving the functioning of organizations, such as business consultation).

Citation:
California State University, Northridge; 6/85
M.A. degree in Clinical/Community Psychology

In my doctoral program at Pepperdine I was able to focus my clinical training in psychotherapy.  There are four primary schools of psychotherapy; psychoanalytic, humanistic-existential, cognitive-behavioral, and family systems.  In the Pepperdine Psy.D. doctoral program we could select two of the four as our specialized training focus.

I selected family systems therapy and humanistic-existential therapy as my specialties.  I am trained in all theorists and all models of family systems therapy, the four primary being Structural (Minuchin), Strategic (Haley & Madanes), Bowenian (Bowen), and Humanistic (Satir).  I am also knowledgeable in Family of Origin therapy (Framo), Contextual family system therapy (Boszormenyi-Nagy), Behavioral family therapy (Wynne), and Multi-Family family therapy (Gritzer & Okun).  I’ve never been trained in the Milan approach because it requires a one-way mirror and multiple therapists  (it doesn’t seem practical).

Recent Presentations

I would normally not place my conference presentations on the first page of my vitae.  I did this because I am a testifying expert witness in the courts and these Recent Presentations establish my relevance and background related to court-involved family conflict.

For the convenience of attorneys presenting my vitae for qualification as an expert witness, I list some of my most recent presentations.  The strength of my presentations is evidenced by the most recent to the American Psychological Association and a prior presentation in 2017 to the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC).

The international scope of my expertise is demonstrated in a presentation in the Netherlands and an invited meeting with the Dutch Ministry of Justice, and an invited presentation by the Law Society of Saskatchewan.

I also list two legislative briefings I have provided, one to the Massachusetts legislature and one to the Pennsylvania legislature.  All of these presentations on this first entry page of my vitae are regarding court-involved family conflict pathology.

I am a Psy.D.  A Psy.D. vitae is oriented toward work experience.  It will be empty of presentations and research because that is not the focus of a Psy.D. doctorate, we sacrifice that side of our vitae for increased knowledge and training in pathology and its treatment.  Yet my vitae is still relatively strong on that side as well, even where I should be weak (research and presentation), I’m still strong.

Work Experience

This is the strength of a Psy.D. vitae.  We will review my work experience vitae from the bottom-up, tracking the progression of experience gained.

3/74 –6/78 Crisis Counselor Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center
Crisis telephone counselor and shift supervisor for Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center crisis telephone hotline. Supervisor and resource for crisis counselors.

I started my career in psychology my Freshman year at UCLA.  I have always been on the path of clinical psychology since my first steps.  My Sophomore year at UCLA I sought out my first clinical psychology placement with the Suicide Prevention Center hotline in Los Angeles.

We had a week of training by the Suicide Prevention Center in suicide and crisis counseling.  Crisis counseling is its own specialty, it’s not psychotherapy, it has a differnet focus.  I learned crisis counseling upon my first entry into clinical psychology. 

I maintained my placement at the Suicide Prevention Center throughout my undergraduate degree as a Psychology major at UCLA, rising to a paid shift supervisor by my senior year.  Crisis and trauma are always a treatment team, they are too high-intensity for individual decision-making without support – in crisis counseling and trauma it’s always a treatment team.

9/80–9/85 Psychiatric Aide
Crossroads Adolescent Psychiatric Hospital; Woodview-Calabassas Psychiatric Hospital; Northridge Psychiatric Hospital, Metropolitan State Hospital, Camarillo State Hospital.

When I graduated from UCLA, I next sought a Master’s degree in Community/Clinical Psychology.  I worked my way through my Master’s degree program as a psychiatric aide at local-area psych hospitals. 

I started by working with the adult populations, major depression, bipolar, schizophrenia.  Over the course of time I shifted to adolescents, eventually spending the bulk of this period working at Crossroads Hospital, an adolescent psychiatric hospital.

I started my professional career working in the trenches, suicide, crisis counseling, and major psychiatric pathology.  I know professional clinical psychology from the ground up, from the trenches.

9/85 -9/98 Research Associate UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute
Principle Investigator: Keith Nuechterlein, Ph.D.
Area: Longitudinal study of initial-onset schizophrenia. Received annual training to research and clinical reliability in the rating of psychotic symptoms using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Managed all aspects of data collection and data processing.

My next position was with a major NIMH longitudinal research project on schizophrenia.  Note the dates of time spent in this position – over 12 years.  I was responsible for managing all aspects of data collection and data processing for a major research project, supervising and directing three research staff.

When I began, the testing battery for the schizophrenic patients that was conducted at intake, remission, relapse, one year, through a randomized control double-blind trial, and into a three-year test, was 8-hours long.  It consisted of physiological measures, interview measures, symptom ratings, cognitive testing, computerized testing, and paper-and-pencil measures.  When I left, the battery of tests had expanded to 16-hours across two days of testing at each test point.

Of prominent note regarding this work experience is that I was trained every year for 12 years to clinical reliability and research reliability on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), which Wikipedia describes as “the oldest, and most widely used scale for measuring psychotic symptoms.”

I have extensive background with psychotic-delusional pathology, rating symptoms and making the diagnosis.  I am likely one of the best trained clinicians in the country on making a diagnosis of psychotic pathology based on twelve years of annual training in doing just that.

9/98 -9/99 Research Associate
UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute
Principle Investigator: Elisabeth Dykens, Ph.D.
Area: Cognitive functioning in Williams Syndrome. Test administration and coding of behavioral observation data.

As I shifted over into my doctoral studies at Pepperdine, I left the UCLA research project on schizophrenia and secured a position with a different clinical research project at UCLA working with children.  This research project focused on two populations of pathology, William’s Syndrome and Prader-Willi syndrome.  In addition to collecting a range of test data at various points, we also scored recorded behavioral observation data.  I have worked with every single type of data.

9/99-9/00  Predoctoral Psychology Intern –APA Accredited
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Rotations: spina bifida, early childhood preschool consultation

Despite my time at UCLA with schizophrenia, my goal has always been child and family therapy.  For my doctoral internship training I sought out an APA accredited internship at Childrens’ Hospital of Los Angeles. 

My primary medical-pediatric psychologist rotation was the Spina Bifida clinic (that’s the spinal cord birth defect that puts children in wheelchairs).  That’s where I first encountered the complex trauma of traumatic grief.  My community mental health treatment focus at CHLA with ADHD, and I acquired early childhood mentorship from Marie Pousen, Ph.D. who directed a therapeutic preschool at CHLA.

9/00 –4/02 Postdoctoral Fellow
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Two-year post-doctoral fellowship. Specialty focus: ADHD; spina bifida; early childhood mental health

I then secured post-doctoral fellowship training at CHLA, continuing in the spina bifida clinic and a more expanded focus in ADHD and early childhood mental health.  Licensure only required one year of predoctoral supervised training and one year of post-doctoral supervised training – but the CHLA post-doc was a 2-year program, a full year more of supervised training than is required.

Why would someone do an additional year of supervised post-doctoral training above and beyond what is required for licensure?  Why would CHLA only offer a 2-year post-doctoral fellowship when they know that only one year is required for licensure?

4/02-9/02: Research Associate Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Principle Investigator: Ernest Katz, Ph.D.
Multi-site Children’s Hospital study of remediation of attention deficits of children with cancer.

During my post-doctoral training at CHLA, I also extended my training over into pediatric cancer, working on a multi-site research project on the remediation of attention deficits caused by intrathecal chemotherapy (chemotherapy into the spinal-cord and brain) and brain cancer treated with radiation.

The research involved six of the major Children’s Hospitals, and I was sent to M.D. Anderson Hospital at the University of Texas along with clinical treatment representatives from the other six Children’s Hospitals for training in the attention-remediation protocol used in the multi-site study.

My post-doctoral training was the last position that I actually applied for.  From that point on I have been recruited to each of the following positions.

4/02 –10/06: Pediatric Psychologist Children’s Hospital Orange County – UCI Child Development Center
Early Identification and Treatment of ADHD in Preschoolers
Director: James Swanson, Ph.D.
Served as the primary clinical psychologist on a joint CHOC-UCI project for early identification of ADHD in preschool-age children.

I was recruited our out of CHLA to join Children’s Hospital of Orange County on medical staff in the Psychology Department of Choc, to serve as the lead clinical psychologist on a collaborative Choc-UCI Child Development Center project on the identification and remediation of ADHD in preschool-age children.  I was recruited to this position because of my triple background in ADHD specialization, early childhood specialization, and my training as a pediatric psychologist.

Jim Swanson, Ph.D. is one of the top-tier experts in ADHD.  His UCI Child Development Center was one of the lead sites for the multi-site MTA randomized control study of ADHD conducted in the 1990s, considered the best randomized control study ever conducted for any pathology.  His UCI Child Development Center has also produced nearly all of the research on school-based interventions for ADHD, and major pharmaceutical companies run their clincal trails for new ADHD medication through the UCI Child Development Center because the high-quality of treatment at the UCI Child Development Center ensures that any differences are due to medication effects because the treatment is stable at – the best.

I had several roles with this project, including providing on-call coverage at Choc for consultations on hospital units, supervision of interns and post-doctoral fellows at Choc’s APA accredited internship and post-doctoral training programs, providing direct patient care, supervising training of para-professionals in a specific parent training approach (C.O.P.E. Model) developed by Dr. Cunningham at McMaster’s University, and I was responsible for developing a county-wide teacher training program for preschools, culminating in a two-day training organized and led by me for all Head Start preschools in Orange County.

Early Childhood Trainings & Seminars Given

Functional Behavioral Analysis with Preschool-Age Children -Seminar Series. (9/26/03; 10/17/03). Orange County Head Start Center Directors and Multi-disciplinary Teams. Orange, CA.

Much of the teacher training was in Functional Behavioral Analysis (FBA), a more sophisticated variation of Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA).

Note:  Munchausen by Proxy

My background training and experience at two Children’s Hospitals (CHLA and Choc) provided me with professional training, background, and experience with the DSM-5 diagnosis of Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another (i.e., Munchausen’s by proxy).

Who do you think sees Munchausen’s by proxy?  Children’s Hospitals.  The medical disorder can’t be diagnosed, it keeps moving up the chain of expertise and testing, eventually arriving at the top, Children’s Hospital.  The medical physician begins to see what is happening from the many inconclusive tests.

What does the physician do when Munchausen’s by proxy is suspected?  They call for a “psych consult” – “I think we may have a case of Munchausen’s here, put in a call for a psych consult.”  Then a call is placed to the Psychology Department of the Children’s Hospital, and one of the pediatric psychologists goes up to begin an assessment for Muchausen’s by proxy (Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another).

I am that psychologist in the Psychology Department of Children’s Hospital.  I’m the pediatric psychologist at Children’s Hospital who goes to assess and diagnose Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another.  I am likely one of the most expert clinical psychologists anywere in the pathology of Munchausen’s by proxy – Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another.

I am also one of the best trained clinical psychologists in the assessment of delusional psychotic pathology (UCLA – BPRS).   These are both specialized domains of expertise and training, and they are both directly relevant to court-involved attachment pathology – a shared persecutory delusion that is created in the child for secondary gain – a factitious delusional-psychiatric disorder imposed on the child for secondary gain.

5/03 –10/06: Clinical Director
Fineman Consulting Group
Fire F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Juvenile Firesetting Intervention Program
Executive Director: Kenneth Fineman, Ph.D.
Through grants from FEMA and the Department of Justice to develop a national model for juvenile firesetting intervention, collaborated with Dr. Fineman in developingacomprehensive clinical psychology assessment protocol for the mental healthevaluation of juvenile firesetting behavior.

From this position at Choc-UCI, I was then recruited to serve as the Clinical Director for an assessment and treatment program for juvenile firesetting behavior through FEMA and the Department of Justice.  Dr. Fineman served as the content expert on juvenile firesetting, he is a forensic psychologist and a world-recognized expert in juvenile firesetting behavior.  FEMA and the DOJ wanted to develop a national-model mental health assessment of juvenile firesetters to determine whether individual cases warranted simple fire safety education, required mental health involvement, or required a juvenile justice response.

I was recruited to provide the clinical psychology expertise, including professional expertise in the construction of assessment protocols for child pathology.  We also hired an early career professional seeking experience in Organizational Development (Dr. Patterson) to work with the local-area fire-agencies on implementing the field portion of the screening assessment protocol.  I supervised his Organizational Development work based from my prior training in my Master’s program.

10/06 -6/08: Clinical Director
START Pediatric Neurodevelopmental Assessment and Treatment Center
California State University, San Bernardino Institute of Child Development and Family Relations
Clinical director for an early childhood assessment and treatment center providing comprehensive developmental assessment and psychotherapy services to children ages 0-5 years old. Directed the clinical operations, clinical staff, and the provision of comprehensive psychological assessment and treatment services across clinic-based, home-based, and school-based services. A three-university collaboration with speech and language services through the University of Redlands, occupational therapy through Loma Linda University, and psychology through Calif. State University, San Bernardino.

I was then recruited to serve as the Clinical Director for a three-university assessment and treatment center working with children ages 0-5 in the foster care system, our primary referrals were from the county’s Department of Children’s Services and our funding was through the county Department of Mental Health.

Loma Linda University provided faculty and trainees from their Occupational Therapy program, the University of Redlands provided faculty and trainees from their Speech and Language program, and California State University, San Bernardino provided psychology faculty, mental health therapists, and mental health trainees (Master’s level interns and post-doctoral fellows).

I was hired by Cal State as the Clinical Director to provide the clinical psychology expertise.  As the Clinical Director, I must know all the mental health issues involved with the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of early childhood complex trauma and attachment pathology.  I must also understand the sensory-motor issues involved (OT, sensory integration; Loma Linda) and language issues issues involved (speech-and-language, praxic, pragmatic, and semantic; Redlands) to be able to integrate these domains of assessment and treatment into the overall comprehensive treatment plan for children ages 0-5 in the foster care system.

While in this position, I developed a para-professional support training program with undergraduate students at Cal State, culminating in a team of para-professionals who would work directly in the preschool classroom and in the foster care placement with the care providers and the child.

6/08–Current: Private Practice
219 N. Indian Hill Blvd., Ste. 201
Claremont, CA 91711
Psychotherapy with adults, couples, children, and families. Specializing in attachment pathology, ADHD, anger and impulse control problems in childhood, childhood trauma, family psychotherapy, marital therapy, and parent-child conflict.

I left this position to enter private practice on my way to retirement.  It was at this point that I accepted my first case of court-involved “high-conflict” divorce, referred by a minor’s counsel.  I have subsequently been focused on the severe attachment pathology, the IPV spousal abuse pathology, and child psychological abuse pathology currently untreated and unresolved in the family courts.

1/12–12/17: Faculty University of Phoenix; Pasadena Campus; Ontario Campus
Courses taught: Child Development; Assessment and Treatment Planning; Advanced Diagnosis; Models of Psychotherapy; Counseling Psychometrics; Research Methods; Cultural Psychology

1/09 –9/10: Faculty Argosy University; San Bernardino Campus
Courses taught: Diagnosis and Psychopathology; Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy; Child Development

I enjoy teaching and mentoring students.  I taught and supervised trainees at Choc and at my clinic, and I’ve taught extensive numbers of parenting training courses and preschool teacher trainings.  When I entered private practice I sought out teaching positions at local colleges because I enjoy it.

Of note is that the implication of teaching at the graduate level is that the professor must know everything about the topic area of instruction. So, the courses I’ve taught provide an indication of the scope of my professional knowledge – note in particular that I’ve taught graduate-level courses in Diagnosis and Psychopathology, graduate-level courses in Assessment and Treatment Planning, and graduate-level courses in Models of Adolescent and Child Psychotherapy.

That is my work history background.  My background education, training, and experience serves as the partial foundation for my professional opinions regarding assesement, diagnosis, and treatment of pathology in children.

Divorce Training

Certificate Program: Certification in Divorce Mediation. Conflict Resolution Training, Inc. 2/24/16 –2/27/16. Susan Deveney, Instructor

I do not consider forensic psychology to be a domain of clinical pathology, it is more of a procedural domain of psychology; court-involved.  According to forensic psychology, their domain is any and all court-involved pathology.

From a clinical psychology perspective, a pathology does not change simple because a court becomes involved.  Autism remains autism even if there is court-involment.  Eating disorders don’t change into another form of pathology if a court becomes involved.  The pathology remains the same.

What occurs with court-involvment are additional and higher obligations and responsibilies on the clinical psychologist.  In treatment the psychologist has once client, the child.  With court-involvement the psychologist has a second client, the court, and has additional obligations added relative to this additional client.  But the pathology itself doesn’t change.

I took this course in Divorce Mediation as a “boundaries of competence” issue surrounding forensic psychology.  I am not a forensic psychologist, nor will I ever be a forensic psychologist, the standards of practice in forensic psychology are substantially below those of clincal psychology.  But I simply wanted to perform due-dillegence on my obligations for training in the “forensic” practice of “divorce mediation,” and this boundaries of comptence item is now evidenced on my vitae.

Early Childhood Training

This is the area of my vitae documenting my specialty training in early childhood mental health, considered the highest caliber sub-specialty domain in all of professional psychology. Early childhood mental health requires multiple complex information sets.

We must know all of the developmental maturation for each system, language, emotional, psychological, attachment, cognitive, sensory-motor – not only for how each system develops individually, also for how they are all cross-integrated in their development. How the developing emotional system interacts with the developing sensory-motor networks, how attachment bonding is mediating emotional reglation and psychological identity development.  How cognitive development and language change and alter emotional and psychological maturation.  All systems both individually, and how the each interact across all the other systems.

And we have to have this knowledge for each rapidly changing stage of maturation in the first fives years – these systems are at different stages of development at 18 months than at 24 months, and will again change by three-years-old, then four, then five.  As an early childhood psychologist, all of the systems both individually and in integration, must ALSO be understood across each distinct phase of maturation.

All of this knowledge must be known – all the system’s individual development and maturation – integrated across multiple systems – and through each developmental period of the first five years… including infancy.

For infancy, you can also see the additional Certification in Infant Mental Health I received.  The first year is a whole new domain of rapidly changing development – 3-months, 6-months, 9-months, 12-months – all systems individually and integrated.

Certificate Program: Parent-Infant Mental Health: Fielding Graduate University, 1/14/08; 1/15/08.

I have posted an Early Childhood Comptency Guidelines to my website to give an indication of what is expected knowledge for basic competence in early childhood mental health – not expertise – just basic competence:

Early Childhood Comptency Guidelines

The listing of knowledge domains needed for professional competence begins on Page 15.  Note that on the bottom of Page 15 it says, “Brain research.”  It doesn’t specify what brain research.  It doesn’t say, “Brain research on psychological development” or “Brain research on emotional and cognitive development.”

It just says “Brain research.” That means all brain research.  All of it.  Brain research on the emotional systems, on the cognitive systems, on the attachment system, on sensory-motor systems, on hormonal and stress system, the limbic system, the amygdala, the frontal cortex and prefrontal cortex, the vagal nervous system, all of it.

Brain research.  Page 15.

Notice too where it lists the authors on Page 19, at the top, Marie Poulsen, Ph.D.  Note her afflilliation – CHLA. She was my mentor in early childhood mental health at CHLA.

I am comptent in all the domains of knowledge listed in this Early Childhood Comptency Guidelines document.  I know all of that information.  In fact, I knew all of that 20 years ago.  That is basic competence.  Note my Work Experience.  I’m at the Clinical Director level – senior-staff top level of knowledge.  No one knows more.  I was competent 20 years ago.

I know two additional diagnostic systems beyond the standared DSM-5 and ICD-10.

Early Childhood Diagnostic System: DC:0-3R Diagnostic Criteria 0-3 Revised.  Attachment oriented early childhood diagnostic system.  Instructor: Orange County Early Childhood Mental Health Collaborative.

This is a stronger attachment-oriented diagnostic system.

Early Childhood Diagnostic System: DMIC: Diagnostic Manual for Infancy and Early Childhood.  Assessment, diagnosis, and intervention for developmental and emotional disorders, autistic spectrum disorders, multisystem developmental disorders, regulatory disordersinvolving attention, learning and behavioral problems, cognitive, language, motor, and sensory disturbances. Instructor, Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learningc Disorders (Greenspan)

This is a stronger autism-spectrum diagnostic system.

I also know the two basic treatments for attachment pathology.

Early Childhood Treatment Intervention: Watch, Wait, and Wonder: Nancy Cohen, Ph.D. Hincks-Dellcrest Centre & the University of Toronto.

Early Childhood Treatment Intervention: Circle of Security: Glen Cooper, MFT, Center for Clinical Intervention, Marycliff Institute, Spokane, Washington.

Attachment System

The domain of attachment is early childhood mental health.  That is where a mental health professional receives training in the attachment system and attachment pathology.  If a mental health professional does not have early childhood training, then they do not have education or training in the attachment system and attachment pathology.

In court-involved attachment pathology surrounding divorce, the assessing, diagnosing, and treating mental health professionals are working with the most severe attachment pathology possible – there is nothing worse in attachment than a complete severing of the child’s bond to a mother or father – that is as bad as it gets for attachment pathology.

Yet NONE of the involved mental health people have any education or training in the attachment system – what it is, how it functions, how it dysfunctions, and how to repair the attachment bond.  They are practicing beyond the boundaries of their competence, and as a result, children are being severely harmed, and parents are being severely harmed.

Google ignorance: lack of knowledge or information

Where did you receive your education and training in the attachment system and attachment pathology?

Recent Seminars Taken

I include these Seminars Taken to indicate that despite my knowledge, I still take training and educational seminars. Role model.

I know family systems therapy.  Yet still I go to a three-day conference put on by the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family at Johns Hopkins regarding the emotional cutoff pathology in families.

I know trauma and complex trauma.  Yet still I take a two-day seminar from Bessel van der Kolk on trauma and complex trauma.  I love the work of Bessel van der Kolk.  He is in my pantheon of exceptional in professional psychology.

I’m a role model.  I know the knowledge, yet still I seek additional learning.

Publications

This domain simply shows I have written material that is available for review.  The strength of a Psy.D. vitae is not Publications, it’s Work Experience.  We sacrifice research and publication for additional expertise in pathology and its treatment.  My Publications vitae is simply to provide references for additional information.

Internet Psychology:  Of note are the last three entries in Publications, these three were from my time and expertise in the emerging field of Internet psychology, the integration of the Internet and its impact with professional psychology. This domain is addressed separately later in my vitae as well.

Parental Alienation” Seminars Given

This area is simply to demonstrate the scope of my practice and knowledge.  My Work Experience is grounded in real pathology, I want to also give an indication that I have background in this court-involved “parental alienation” pathology created by forensic psychology.

Early Childhood Mental Health Trainings

These are about 1/3 of the trainings I have provided, I simply wanted to provide a representative sampling.  Note the reference to Functional Behavioral Analysis (a more sophisticated variant of Applied Behavioral Analysis).  Both Functional Behavioral Analysis and Applied Behavioral Analysis have valuable application to court-involved attachment pathology.

Internet Psychology Presentations Given

In addition to the publications in peer-reviewed journals surrounding Internet Psychology, I have presentations of substance on the integration of the Internet into professional psychology as well.

I have an invited presentation to the American Association for the Advancement of Science regarding Internet Psychology.

American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Office of Protection from Research Risks. Conference on the Ethical and Legal Aspects of Human Subjects Research in Cyberspace. Invited paper presentation on Privacy and Confidentiality Issues in Internet Research. 6/1999, June. Washington, D.C.

Report: Ethical and Legal Aspects of Human Subjects Research in Cyberspace

Notice in the Workshop Participants section of the Report that my affiliation is listed as the International Society of Mental Health Online.  At the time, I was the President for this organization, serving a three-year term on the Executive Committee, first as the President-Elect, then a year as the acting President, and then a final year as the Past-President.

I also have an invited presentation regarding Internet Psychoogy to the World Health Organization in Munich.  Travel for both invited presentations, the AAAS and WHO, were paid for by the inviting host organization.

World Health Organization, 2nd International Symposium on Psychiatry and Internet: Information –Support –Therapy. Invited presentation on Ethical Issues in Online Psychotherapeutic Interventions. 4/2002, Munich, Germany.

My third citation of professional experience in this domain of my vitae is to a presentation I made on a Symposium panel to the national convention of the American Psychological Association.  A report on this presentation still remains online.

American Psychological Association Convention, Symposium on Using the Internet for Change: Online Psychotherapy and Education. J. Grohol (Chair): The Potential Risks and Benefits of Online Therapeutic Interventions. 8/1998; San Francisco, California.

Article: The Potential Risks and Benefits of Online Therapeutic Interventions

Summary

My vitae reflects the domains of my knowledge. The core of my vitae is Work Experience.  My knowledge comes from practical application in work experience.

The additional extensions of that knowledge are reflected in the breadth of my applied experience in presentations, courses taught, training received, and written references for support.

Work Experience is the heart of a Psy.D. vitae.

Craig Childress, Psy.D.
Clinical Psychologist, PSY 18857