Civil Proceedings
- Child Custody Evaluations
- Comprehensive Care During and After Divorce
- Civil Competency Determinations
- Mediation of Disputes
Child Custody Evaluations
An experienced clinician will assess parents (and where applicable, step-parents, grandparents, and/or significant others) as well as assess children in question.
In order to assist courts in determining best interest a comprehensive report will be submitted, which includes recommendations, supported by forensic rationale based on findings.
We also offer alcohol/drug assessment, and gambling and sex addiction, by specialists (Certified Master and Certified Reciprocal Alcohol and Drug Counselors, Certified Sex Addiction Therapist), home visit assessments, and bonding assessments*.
* A bonding assessment tests the bonding capabilities of parent and child, and includes direct observation of parent-child interaction.
Staff
Psychological Evaluations — Steven A. Hamon, Ph.D., Rudolf G. Breitmeyer, Ph.D.
Alcohol/Drug Evaluations — Valerie Arnett, LCPC, CMADC, CSAT, Ted Wolgamot, Psy.D., LCPC, CRADC, CSAT
Sex and Gambling Addiction Evaluations — Valerie Arnett, LCPC, CMADC, CSAT, Ted Wolgamot, Psy.D., LCPC, CRADC, CSAT
Bonding Assessments — Jonna Tyler, LCPC
Home Visits — Steve Harris, LCPC
Comprehensive Care During and After Divorce
A divorce can be one of the most painful experiences a family can face. Every experienced attorney knows the frustration of attempting to steer hurt and angry clients through the complexities of the legal process. The Antioch Group has, as one of its foundational points of professional mission, a commitment to helping children and families during crisis. For this reason we have designed a comprehensive care plan for helping all family members during and after divorce. Our plan is outlined as follows:
- Pre-divorce Guidance — A team of therapists will help hurting parents and children through the divorcing process. Studies show that, once a decision to divorce is established, adult parties come to settlement negotiations with a balance of some desire to attempt fair settlement and a strong desire not to be “taken” by the “soon-to-be-ex” partner. Our team guides adults toward resolution of settlement by helping parties establish a balance of fairness and protection. We use anger management, grief resolution and decisional/negotiation skills training for adult parties. A child therapy expert works with children from 4–17 to help them through the divorce process, too.
- Post-divorce Mediation — Trained mediators with our group assist divorced parties to move beyond impasse in disputes which arise after divorce. Documents of mediated settlement are then sent to representative attorneys for entry into the legal record.
- Blended Family Care — When one of the parties remarries both children and adults have new issues of bonding, loyalty, and communication to work through. The Antioch Group has several clinicians who specialize in grief resolution and bonding training ready to help newly-formed families “blend."
Our Comprehensive Care is available both on a single-service basis and as a complete step-by-step package to guide adults and children through the divorce process and beyond it.
Civil Competency Determinations
The experienced clinicians of Antioch Forensic Services can perform record reviews and assessments to aid the Court in determining competency in the following types of civil matters:
- Competency to parent (assessment of fitness in light of the child’s needs, bonding assessment*)
- Competency as a witness (assessment of both adults and children)
- Competency to make a will (includes the conducting of psychological autopsies)
- Competency to contract (including, for example, protecting the welfare of mentally handicapped persons, post-stroke and Alzheimer patients against unscrupulous salespeople)
Our comprehensive assessments contain a clear, jargon-free forensic rationale, which is cross-referenced to each recommendation, enabling judges and juries to follow a logical pathway from findings to recommendations. Our average turn-around time from conclusion of the assessment to receipt-of report is ten days.
We will go on-site to your client in cases of demonstrated need.
* A bonding assessment tests the bonding capabilities of parent and child, and includes direct observation of parent-child interaction.
Staff
All competency determinations — Rudolf G. Breitmeyer, Ph.D., Steven A. Hamon, Ph.D.
Competency to parent — Jonna Tyler, LCPC
Mediation of Disputes
When business partnerships and/or other non-marital family relationships (e.g., adult children and their parents) encounter conflict our mediators are ready to assist. We help parties in dispute to break impasse, negotiate, and move to resolution, thus preserving important relations.
We ask parties to commit to six to eight sessions, including one individual assessment session for each party, one to three sessions for training in specific preparation for negotiating, and three to five negotiating sessions. Sessions are from 50 to 90 minutes in length, depending on the number of parties involved and the nature of the dispute.
The outcome of a successful mediation is a mutually constructed, negotiated memorandum of agreement which attorneys then review and the parties sign.
Our mediators are certified by the Academy of Family Mediators. Let us help your parties in dispute save time, money, and emotional turmoil through mediated dispute resolution.
Staff
Suzanne Jost, LCSW, Ted Wolgamot, Psy.D., LCPC, CRADC, CSAT