Dr. Kathleen M. Reay receives many inquiries throughout the year regarding her availability to act as an evaluator, consultant, trial consultant, and expert witness in matters relating to child custody, childhood trauma, parental alienation, estrangement and parental alienation syndrome. Unfortunately, but true, she is not always able to provide the latter types of services because the parent and/or lawyer in question chooses to make his or her requests too late. Dr. Reay typically has waitlists and requires ample time to be able to take on such new litigation-related cases.
She provides telephone, online (typically Skype) and office consultations with lawyers, mental health professionals and parents. Whenever possible, Dr. Reay will render a professional opinion, as consultant to both parents, regarding the optimal living arrangements for the children in question. She will also serve as a consultant in settling custody and access disputes. Dr. Reay has a tremendous amount of experience working with parents and children to facilitate their adjustment to seperation and divorce. The latter professional services include, but are not limited to, announcing the divorce to the children, assisting noncustodial parents in maintaining meaningful relationships with their children, working with various members of alienated families, and providing counselling and psychotherapy.
She conducts individual consultations and workshops for lawyers and mental health professionals on custody-related aspects of their work. Often this involves consultation regarding custody evaluations and social studies or regarding the applicability of research findings to a specific case.
Her preference is to serve as consultant to both parties to assist them in reaching decisions without litigation. This is best accomplished through a court ordered appointment that specifically excludes her records from discovery and excludes her from being subpoenaed and from testifying. When serving in this role is not feasible or desirable, Dr. Reay recommends having the court appoint a professional to conduct an evaluation. In certain cases, depending on the circumstances, she is willing to provide services without such appointment.
Dr. Reay is also experienced in reviewing evaluations conducted by mental health professionals. This review includes critiques of the procedures, findings, and conclusions of the evaluations in question. In certain cases there are significant weaknesses in each area. For example, the procedures may contain significant flaws or omissions that weaken the validity of the findings. The findings may rest on inaccurate interpretation of the data (including psychological test results) or the data may suggest alternative possibilities. The conclusions and recommendations may not be warranted by the findings and may reveal subtle biases on the part of the examiner or reliance on unproven theories.
She also receives many requests to testify as an expert witness in court matters related to custody, access, childhood trauma, parental alienation, estrangement, and parental alienation syndrome. Dr. Reay chooses to do this type of litigation work in a very few select cases. She has the ability to testify on hypotheticals or on the specific case when she has had an opportunity to conduct and/or review evaluations. To explore the possibility of her participation in a case, the parent or lawyer must arrange an initial consultation. Please note that Dr. Reay’s participation in an initial consultation in no way obligates her to take on a case. Dr. Reay may decide not to involve herself further because of the nature of the case or the constraints of her schedule. For more information, please do not hesitate to contact our office.