Pros and Cons of the Court Involved Therapist
This presentation is designed to provide an exploration of key topics regarding the utilization of Court Involved Therapists (CIT) in Family Court Processes. While CIT’s should rely on interventions derived from Evidence Informed Practice, some of these approaches may still fall short of the mark due to the complexity of the high-conflict families we serve. Furthermore, some evidence-informed interventions derived from non-court based clinical practice may be misapplied to the family law setting. We will discuss this conundrum with respects to court-involved interventions with resist-refuse cases, neurodiverse children, as well consider the ramifications of utilizing court-involved therapists versus general therapeutic practitioner in family law cases.
Learning Objectives
- Participants will be able to identify the difference between a therapist trained in Court Involved work and a therapist with an overreach in treatment competencies.
- Participants will be able to identify the characteristics of scientifically informed treatment and coordination of interdisciplinary treatment.
- Participants will be able to integrate categories of scientific evidence to provide to judicial officers so they have tools based on social science.
Registration Fee
SCBA Members: $65 | Barristers Club (1st 5 yrs of practice): $45 | Public: $80 | Students: $20
For the comfort of our guests, a limited number of in-person seats are available. If you wish to attend in-person, we suggest notifying our office at your earliest convenience to reserve your seat. Walk-ins will be admitted as space allows. In-person registrations expire at the start of the presentation. We do ask that you arrive promptly; otherwise your reserved seat may be given to a walk-in attendee. In-person reservations are non-refundable unless cancelled prior to 3 pm one business day prior to the presentation. All registrations are assumed to be remote unless otherwise stated. To reserve your seat for the in-person option, please contact Ann Horn at Ann@SonomaCountyBar.org or (707) 542-1190 ext. 100 to transfer your remote registration to in-person.
Speakers
Daniel B. Pickar, Ph.D., ABPP
Daniel Pickar, Ph.D. is a child psychologist and Diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology. He is in independent practice in clinical and forensic psychology in Santa Rosa, California and specializes in child custody evaluations, consultation to family law attorneys, and psycho-educational evaluations of children. He received his undergraduate education at Brown University and completed his Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology at Berkeley. For 12 years, he served as the Chief of Child and Family Psychiatry at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Santa Rosa, California. He has published numerous journal articles and book chapters in the areas of child custody evaluation, children with special needs and neurodiversity in family court, and child custody mediation. He regularly presents workshops at state and national AFCC and AAML conferences. Dr. Pickar is currently on the Board of Directors of the Association of Family & Conciliation Courts and serves on the editorial board of the Family Court Review. In 2019, he was honored with the Judge Rex Sater Award by the Sonoma County Bar Association for his outstanding contributions to family law in Sonoma County.
Dana Schneider, MA, MFT
Ms. Schneider is a licensed marriage and family therapist and Lecturer Emeritus from Sonoma State University. Retired from clinical practice she currently trains Mental Health practitioners working with court involved families. In addition to 44 years of clinical experience working with children, adolescents and their families, she has served as a Parent Coordinator/Special Master, and a Private Child Custody Recommending Counselor for the Sonoma County Courts. Dana is a member of the Sonoma County Bar Association, Family Law Section, Association of Family and Concilliation Courts and California Association of Marriage and Family Counselors. In 2012, Ms. Schneider was awarded the Rex Sater Award for Excellence in Family Law and the Pro Bono Award by the Sonoma County Bar Association. She is a co-author of a published article in the Journal of Divorce and Remarriage entitled "Children's Ability to Cope Post Divorce: The Effects of Kids' Turn Intervention Program on 7-9 Year Olds."