Legal Services

The Chartered Psychologists and other professionals that are part of McKeown Psychology Associates offer a broad service to the legal profession and the courts in providing expert opinion and reports. CVs of particular consultants are available on request together with the experience of the individual concerned with this type of work. Background details of individual consultants are contained in each of the legal section pages. Where there are more complex issues that overlap between different specialist areas the team provides consultancy support where needed to the individual who may act as a single or joint expert.

Informal enquiries are welcome. However, to enable us to check the availability or suitability of our experts for a particular piece of work please send us an outline of the case and timescales using our contact details.

Examples of the range of work carried out by the consultancy is presented in the sections below.

If you would like more information or would like to book an appointment, please contact us.

 

Our Psychologists who may be able to help include:

John McKeown, MA (Hons), M Ed Psych, PGCE, AFBPsS: Chartered Educational Psychologist, Managing Partner

John McKeown is the Clinical and Managing director of MPA and has been an Educational Psychologist who has worked both within the local authority service and as an independent consultant for over 25 years. He works across the full age range from young children to adults. His experience includes particular expertise in assessments for general learning and specific learning difficulties (Dyslexia), behavioural management and adjustment issues related to promoting effective learning and emotional development.

He has a particular experience in both low and high functioning autistic spectrum conditions. His work extends to the interaction between school, college, family and community in the development and support for children, adolescents and adults. He has considerable experience in working as an expert witness in the courts on educational and child care matters as well as the special educational needs and disability tribunal.

 

Nigel Austin, B.A.(Hons), PGCE, M.Ed.Psych., AFBPsS, Chartered Educational Psychologist – Principal Associate MPA Ltd

A graduate of both London and Sussex Universities, Nigel has some 25 years' experience working as an educational psychologist in local education authorities. His most recent LEA post was Principal Educational Psychologist for Dorset County Council. He has detailed knowledge of educational issues affecting children of all ages, their families and schools. He also has wide experience of learning and other difficulties in adults, and is frequently engaged in assessment work with people involved in criminal and other litigation.

 

Dr Stephen Briers, Chartered Clinical Psychologist

Over a decade of varied professional experience in assessment and treatment has equipped Stephen to work with the psychological needs of clients across the age range. His work as author, presenter and onscreen psychologist for several BBC and Channel 4 series has established a public profile that continues to create a high demand for Stephen’s clinical services.

Before completing his clinical doctorate, Stephen worked at a child development unit at Cambridge University where he was involved in research into the impact of postnatal depression. On qualifying he was employed by the NHS in HIV and Psychosexual Health, working with clients presenting with a diverse range of mental health needs. During this time he developed a particular interest in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As one of the Lead Associates at MPA he carries responsibility for coordinating the clinical activity of the organization.

He is chartered by the British Psychological Society and is registered with the Health Professions Council.

Assessment

Stephen employs a range of techniques for assessing psychological factors impacting upon mood, cognition, personality, behaviour, and global functioning. He regularly administers psychometric tests in the course of his clinical and legal work and is mindful of the value of such instruments as a source of reliable evidence in testing out hypotheses and establishing outcomes.

Therapy

Alongside his other commitments, Stephen continues to maintain and develop his clinical practice. He enlists various approaches and theoretical perspectives, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (about which he has written a best-selling book), systemic, psychodynamic and solution-focused techniques. He is a qualified practitioner of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing – a widely validated treatment for trauma. His approach is genuinely integrative and Stephen always seeks to tailor treatment to the specific needs and expectations of his clients. He offers clinical interventions to children, teenagers and adults, as well as working with couples. A brief sample of the issues he works with include:

  • Depression and Anxiety
  • Behavioural issues in children and adolescents
  • Post-traumatic stress Disorder
  • Psychosexual health
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
  • Eating Disorders
  • Emotional and adjustment disorders
  • Relationship issues
  • Sexual abuse
  • Life coaching and identity issues

Legal

Since 2004 Dr Briers has regularly been jointly instructed as an independent expert witness for the Child and Family Courts. His varied background equips him to provide comprehensive assessments of families. He is qualified to evaluate both the needs of children and the mental health issues and parenting capacity of the adults in their lives. He has contributed to Child Care Proceedings conducted in both East and West Sussex. He has also provided evidence in a limited number of forensic and personal injury cases.

In his legal work Dr Briers combines formal psychometric assessments with clinical observation and appraisal, always seeking to provide robust evidence and clear arguments for any opinions offered. He is very conscious of the responsibilities of the expert witness, the specific agendas of the courts, and the imperative to provide a reliable, highly professional standard of reporting within agreed timescales. In making recommendations Dr Briers is mindful that experts need to identify relevant services and also stipulate criteria and thresholds against which an individual’s therapeutic progress can be effectively measured.

Dr Briers has enjoyed extremely positive feedback from solicitors, barristers and judges regarding the quality of his assessments. He seeks to keep his skills and knowledge updated and relevant, for example recently undertaking Story Stem training at the Anna Freud Centre to enhance his assessment of attachment.

Training

Training and consultation continues to be an active part of Stephen’s portfolio. His media profile has created various public speaking opportunities, including most recently a role as a keynote speaker at the national CPHVA conference held at the Brighton Centre in 2011. He is also involved in teaching on the Child Protection course run jointly by Sussex University and the Sussex Partnership NHS Trust. His previous work as a lecturer for the Open University, his media role, and his writing career mean that he is very used to translating complex psychological ideas into an accessible and engaging form for both lay and professional audiences alike. Stephen has also been involved in the supervision of health professionals including nursing teams, health visitors, and other clinical psychologists.

 

Dr Joshua Carritt-Baker CPsychol - Child and Adult Clinical Psychologist, Forensic Practitioner

Dr Baker has worked for the NHS since 1996 and in private practice as a Clinical Psychologist since 2003. He works in an integrative way, drawing on cognitive behavioural, psychodynamic and systemic principles to provide therapy for individuals and couples. He has a particular interest in anxiety problems (phobia, panic, OCD, agoraphobia, social phobia,relationship, couple and interpersonal difficulties, psychosis and depersonalisation/derealisation, chronic fatigue/ME, and sports psychology.He also acts as an expert witness in legal cases.

 

Richard Maddicks BSc (Hons), Doc.Clin.Psychol: Chartered Clinical Psychologist, Consultant Neuropsychologist

Dr Richard Maddicks obtained his Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Salomons Centre in October 1996 and has 8 years specialist experience in adult neuropsychology. He has been chartered by the BPS since qualification and completed the Institute of Psychiatry diploma in Neuropsychology in 1999. His experience in adult neuropsychology includes both assessment and treatment/rehabilitation of a broad range of neurological conditions e.g. traumatic brain injury, stroke, anoxic brain injury etc. and he has published research in the treatment of neglect following stroke. He has experience of medico-legal reporting and has appeared in court as an expert witness.

 

Frankie McLean BSc (Bristol University), MSc (University College London, 1995) – Principal Associate MPA Ltd

Mrs McLean worked for the NHS between 1995 and 2003 and has worked in private practice since 2003. Her specialist field is children and families with a particular interest in families in crisis; childhood trauma and neglect. She has 14 years experience of undertaking expert assessments for the Court in care proceedings, private law proceedings, compensation claims and pre-proceedings assessments. She is also involved in the supervision and training of other clinical psychologists who are beginning to undertake such assessments.

 

John Revell, BA (Hons), MBA, Dip Clin Psychol, Dip Couns: Chartered Clinical Psychologist

After completing his degree in Psychology at Sussex University, John completed his professional training as a Clinical Psychologist in 1987. He also has a counselling qualification. He has experience of working as a Clinical Psychologist at Consultant level in the NHS. Having more recently obtained a Masters in Business Administration at Brighton University, John has a special interest in organisational consultancy and training. He has experience of medico-legal reporting and has appeared in court as an expert witness.

 

Dr Tara O’Neill, Chartered Clinical Psychologist

Over twenty years NHS experience of working with adults, families, adolescents and children has equipped Dr O’Neill to work flexibly with people experiencing psychological issues in a competent, flexible way.

Tara has a national profile as an expert in working with adults with complex mental health issues, particularly those associated with mental health, personality difficulties and substance misuse. She is regularly invited to present on the subject at national and international conferences and has been involved in strategic projects at a national level to improve services to people individuals with complex mental health issues.

On qualifying as a Clinical Psychologist Tara, was employed by the NHS in a mental health team and whilst there developed a programme to work with young people with mental health and substance misuse problems. She went on to work at the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, a national policy and practice development ‘think-tank’ for two years to help other NHS services develop their responses to clients with combined mental health and substance misuse issues. After two years in the post she returned to the NHS as a Consultant Clinical Psychologist to lead the development of “Dual Diagnosis’ (mental health and substance misuse) services working with clients presenting with a diverse range of psychological needs. During this time she worked across the range of mental health services and also spent time working into substance misuse and homelessness services. The post had a significant training and supervision remit, which provided an opportunity for Tara to work with a wide range of staff groups. Despite this work being focused predominantly in adult mental health services Tara has retained a strong interest in ‘early intervention’ working with children and young people. In 2011 Tara left the NHS to focus on working in independent practice. In addition to the work she carries out with MPA she also runs her own independent practice, Psygroup which has both a therapy and training/ development and supervision arms.

Dr O’Neill is chartered by the Health Professions Council and is a chartered member of the British Psychological Society and the Division of Clinical Psychology .

Assessment

Tara employs a range of techniques for assessing psychological factors impacting upon mood, cognition, personality, behaviour, and global functioning. In addition to employing high level interviewing skills, she regularly administers psychometric tests in the course of her clinical and legal work and is mindful of the value of such instruments as a source of reliable evidence in testing out hypotheses and establishing outcomes.

Therapy

Since making the move from the NHS in late 2011, Dr O’Neill has established a thriving therapy practice at MPA. She describes her therapeutic orientation as ‘integrative’, drawing ideas from theoretical perspectives including cognitive behavioural therapy, psychodynamic theories, systemic models and attachment theory all within a solution focused framework.

In using an integrative approach Tara aims to tailor treatment to the specific needs and expectations of his clients. Tara offers clinical interventions to children, teenagers and adults, as well as working with couples. A brief, but not exhaustive, list of the issues she works with are detailed below:

  • Depression and Anxiety
  • Substance misuse issues
  • Stress
  • Behavioural issues (children and adolescents)
  • Post-traumatic stress Disorder
  • Eating Disorders
  • Emotional and adjustment problems
  • Relationship issues
  • Sexual abuse
  • Personality issues
  • Psychosis
  • Bi-Polar problems

Legal

Dr O’Neill is available to take instruction as an independent expert witness for the Child and Family Courts and Criminal Courts. Her varied clinical and consulting background equips him to provide comprehensive assessments of individuals and families and her time spent speaking at conferences provides has given her the skills to communicate her ideas to an audience, which is directly applicable to giving evidence in court proceedings. She is qualified to evaluate both the needs of children and the mental health issues and parenting capacity of the adults in their lives.

In her legal work Dr O’Neill combines formal psychometric assessments with clinical observation and appraisal, always seeking to provide robust evidence and clear arguments for any opinions offered. She is very conscious of the responsibilities of the expert witness, the specific agendas of the courts, and the imperative to provide a reliable, highly professional standard of reporting within agreed timescales. She has undertaken training with Bond Solon in order to ensure high quality report and presentation in cases in which she is instructed.

Tara keeps her skills and knowledge updated and relevant, for example she has recently undertaken training with Bond Solon on expectations of Expert Witnesses and has also recently completed Prof Patricia Crittendens Course on the DMM (Dynamic Maturational Model) to enhance her understanding of assessment of attachment and psychopathology.

Training

Tara runs a successful training and practice development practice outside of her work with MPA, which focuses on enabling services to engage with people with complex needs. She is involved in helping services work using psychological models and is very interested in the new ideas associated with Psychologically Informed Environments (PIE’s).

She enjoys an excellent reputation as a trainer at a national level and has been involved in the roll out of national training programmes in partnership with the Department of Health, CSIP and other national bodies.

Tara has also been involved in the supervision of health professionals including nursing teams, health visitors, staff from non-statutory sector services and other clinical psychologists.

 

Dr Michael Hymans, Chartered Educational Psychologist

Michael has 26 years experience as a Psychologist, latterly as Principal Educational Psychologist in a local authority Children’s Services Department. Michael has also taught in schools and pupil referral units whose intake often included children with attachment disorders, social, emotional and behavioral disorders and children on the child protection register.

Michael has expertise in all aspects of child development: cognitive, linguistic, sensory, physical, social, behavioral and emotional and I am able to identify children and young people whose development is either delayed or disordered and to consider why this might be and advise about needs. Whilst the focus of his work is invariably the child or young person, he has undertaken cognitive assessments of adults and assessments of adults in their roles as parents/carers.

Michael has facilitated a fathers group of children with special educational needs for 13 years. He chairs a voluntary sector nursery admissions panel and is a governor, with specialist responsibility for ‘safeguarding’ and an additionally resourced autistic provision at a secondary school.

Michael continues to practice as an Educational and Child Psychologist and works in a private capacity in three different local authority schools, that is mainstream primary and secondary schools and a special school for children with profound and multiple learning difficulties.

Assessment

Michael employs a range of techniques for assessing psychological factors impacting upon mood, cognition, personality, behaviour, and global functioning. He regularly administers psychometric tests in the course of his educational, clinical and legal work and is mindful of the value of such instruments as a source of reliable evidence in testing out hypotheses and establishing outcomes.

Therapy

Alongside his other commitments, Michael continues to maintain and develop his clinical practice. He enlists various approaches and theoretical perspectives, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Personal Construct & Narrative Therapy, Systemic Solution-Focused Techniques. His approach is genuinely integrative and Michael always seeks to tailor treatment to the specific needs and expectations of his clients. He offers clinical interventions to children and young people teenagers.

Legal

Since 2000 Dr Hymans has regularly been jointly instructed as an independent expert witness for the Child and Family Courts. His varied background equips him to provide comprehensive assessments of children and their families. He is qualified to evaluate both the needs of children and the parenting capacity of the adults in their lives. He has contributed to Child Care Proceedings conducted in London and the Home Counties.

In his legal work Dr Hymans combines formal psychometric assessments with clinical observation and appraisal, always seeking to provide robust evidence and clear arguments for any opinions offered. He is very conscious of the responsibilities of the expert witness, the specific agendas of the courts, and the imperative to provide a reliable, highly professional standard of reporting within agreed timescales. In making recommendations Dr Hymans is mindful that experts need to identify relevant services and also stipulate criteria and thresholds against which an individual’s therapeutic progress can be effectively measured.

Dr Hymans has enjoyed extremely positive feedback from solicitors regarding the quality of his assessments. He seeks to keep his skills and knowledge updated and relevant.