Dana R. Anderson

Dana R. Anderson, PsyD is a court-appointed forensic psychologist for the California Superior Court- Criminal Division. Dr. Anderson provides psychological evaluations to defendants at various stages of the criminal justice process.

Forensic psychological services are provided for criminal, civil, and family law courts. Typical criminal evaluations include Competency to Stand Trial, Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity and Mental Health Diversion cases. Attorneys and judges request forensic psycholegal evaluations to assist with mitigating or incriminating factors. Risk assessments with recommendations are provided for parole and probation for high-risk offenders. Legal opinions include assessment of psychopathology, malingering of psychosis, malingering of memory, or feigning a mental illness. Forensic Assessment Inventories are used in all forensic legal cases.

Expert witness testimony or fact testimony is provided for both the plaintiff's counsel and criminal defense counsel. Most criminal cases involve serious penal code violations, including murder, attempted murder, sexual assault, or intimate partner violence. Family law court-ordered evaluations include assessment for severe psychopathology to assist the judge with custody evaluations.

Services

Dr. Anderson provides mental health evaluations to individuals in the community and court-ordered evaluations for criminal, family and civil law:

Criminal Evaluations:
Competency to Stand Trial (PC 1368/1370)
Mentally Disordered Offender (PC 2926)
Insanity (PC 1026)
Mental Health/Pre-Trial Diversion (PC 1001.36)
Malingering Psychosis or Memory to Avoid Prosecution
Feigning a Mental Illness
Psychopathology
Psychological Autopsy

Civil Evaluations:
Mitigating or Aggravating Factors
Malingering or Feigning Symptoms for Secondary Gain
Guardianship -Capacity to Make Medical or Financial decisions
LPS Conservatorship Recommendation
Fitness For Duty
Psychiatric Disability

Family Law Evaluations:
Court-Ordered Parental Psychological Evaluation
(730 Evaluations)

Individual Diagnostic Evaluation:
Individual Clinical Diagnostic Assessment
Individual Treatment Plan Based on Clinical Diagnosis

Areas of Expertise

Additional Expertise:

Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI), Guilty But Mentally Ill (GBMI), Competency to Stand Trial, Mentally Disordered Offender, Insanity, Mental Health/Pre-Trial Diversion, Malingering Psychosis or Memory to Avoid Prosecution, Feigning a Mental Illness, Psychopathology, Psychological Autopsy, Mitigating or Aggravating Factors, Malingering or Feigning Symptoms for Secondary Gain, Guardianship -Capacity to Make Medical or Financial decisions, LPS Conservatorship Recommendation, Fitness For Duty, Psychiatric Disability, Court-Ordered Parental Psychological Evaluation.

Areas Served

Nevada, California and all PSYPACT states

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Professional Experience

Clinical Forensic Psychology Experience

California Forensic Psychology, PC, Licensed Clinical Forensic Psychologist
Contracted with the California Superior Court as a court-appointed forensic psychologist for Shasta County Criminal Court.

Forensic psychological services are provided for criminal, civil, and family law courts. Typical criminal evaluations include Competency to Stand Trial, Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity, and Mental Health Diversion cases. Attorneys and judges request forensic psycholegal evaluations to assist with mitigating or incriminating factors. Risk assessments with recommendations are provided for parole and probation for high-risk offenders. Legal opinions include assessment of psychopathology, malingering of psychosis, malingering of memory, or feigning a mental illness. Forensic Assessment Inventories are used in all forensic legal cases.

Expert witness testimony or fact testimony is provided for both the plaintiff's counsel and criminal defense counsel. Most criminal cases involve serious penal code violations, including murder, attempted murder, sexual assault, or intimate partner violence. Family law court-ordered evaluations include assessment for severe psychopathology to assist the judge with custody evaluations. Other forensic assessments include Veteran's Evaluation and Fitness For Duty Evaluations for Police Officers. Critical Incident Debriefing for agencies are scheduled through COMPSYCH. Critical debriefings are provided after traumatic events, such as employee attempted suicide, completed suicide, or homicide.

RESTPADD Locked Inpatient Psychiatric Facility (Recovery & Stabilization for Psychiatric And Drug Use Disorders). Contract Psychologist, August 2016- January 2022.

Post-Doctoral supervision by Willene Pursell, Ph.D. and psychiatrist Thomas Swanson, M.D. ‘Licensed Waivered Psychologist', supervised by Kelly Smith, Ph.D.

Facilitated psychiatric interventions for individuals in a severe mental health crisis, who were brought in on 5150 holds. Evaluated individuals, who met legal criteria of being a danger to self (DTS), danger to others (DTO), or gravely disabled (GD), due to a mental disorder. Completed Tarasoff Warnings when applicable for homicidal individuals. Administered relative psychological assessments (i.e., MCMIIV, MFAST & RIST/RIAS) to assist with providing a diagnosis or differential diagnoses. Provided crisis intervention, daily group therapy, intensive case management, and outpatient treatment planning. Assisted in physical 4-point restraint of combative individuals. Testified weekly as a court hearing representative for 5250/5270 court hearings and participated in REIS and WRIT court hearings with the Psychiatrist. Completed LPS Conservatorship Recommendations to County Mental Health facilities for those with severe mental illness. Member of Workplace Violence Prevention Committee and Out of the Darkness Suicide Prevention Committee.

Wellpath/California Forensic Medical Group/ Contract Psychologist and Program Director for the Shasta County Jail Based Competency Treatment (JBCT) Program, Redding, CA.

Supervised by Kimberly Mitchell, Psy.D., August 2020- January 2021.

Executed the first Department of State Hospital (DSH) program at the Shasta County jail. Facilitated competency restoration to inmates awaiting criminal trial. Provided direction, oversight, and supervision for the Jail-Based Competency Treatment (JBCT) program and staff. Primary designator for communication between JBCT stakeholders (i.e., the Captain, Sheriff's department, DSH & Shasta County Superior court). Facilitated weekly psychoeducational classes and individual assessments to inmates. Completed Competency to Stand Trial court reports by utilizing relevant Jail Based Competency Treatment protocol. Administered psychological assessments to determine diagnosis,
psychopathology, functioning level, intellectual impairment, and/or Malingering.

CONREP (A Forensic Conditional Release Program) Alliant International's Predoctoral Internship through the Department of State Hospital (DSH), San Francisco, CA.

Supervised by Shelly Stolesen, Ph.D., June 2015- July 2016.

Completed court-ordered forensic evaluations for the Department of State Hospital's (DSH) statewide system of community-based mental health treatment services for specified court-ordered forensic individuals. Provided individual and group therapy to individuals with serious mental illness (SMI), who committed violent felony crimes. Completed forensic psychological reports to the Superior Courts, for each patient, on a quarterly and annual basis, including risk assessments (for reoffending) using the HCR-20 risk assessment. Provide court-ordered outpatient treatment and supervision to persons from various counties (Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo), who were adjudicated as Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI) (Penal Code 1026) when tried for their crimes, and those who, while in prison for their crimes, were found to be Mentally Disordered Offenders (MDO's) (Penal Code 2926). Interviewed patients at Napa and Atascadero State Psychiatric Hospitals to evaluate readiness for outpatient treatment and community reentry.

Psychology Assessment Resource Center (PARC), Clinical & Forensic Psychology, Rocklin, CA.

Supervised by Baljit Atwal, Ph.D., 2015.

Provided civil and forensic psychological evaluations for courts and attorneys by interviewing and evaluating defendants facing legal charges, due to alleged penal code violations. Assessments consisted of psychological evaluations to address: criminal responsibility, dangerousness, risk assessment, malingering and deception, mitigating factors, aggravating factors, Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI), Guilty But Mentally Ill (GBMI), placement recommendations, Competency to Stand Trial (CST), and PC 290 Sex Offender evaluations, Competency to waive Miranda rights and validity of confessions and immigration evaluations. Responsible for interviewing, administering psychological testing, forensic report writing, formulating a DSM-5 diagnosis, and making a treatment plan recommendation.

Provided placement evaluations and recommendations for parole and probation by evaluating individuals in the Sacramento County jail and the Stockton Juvenile Detention Facility. Administered a wide variety of clinical assessments to youth and adults, including The Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT-4), Sexual Adjustment Inventory (SA), Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth, Risk Sophistication-Treatment Inventory (RIST,) Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI), Navaco Anger Scale and Provocation Inventory (NAS-PI), NEO Five- Factor-Inventory, Marital Satisfaction Inventory, Juvenile Detention Exam (JDE), Inventory of Offender Risk, Needs, and Strengths (IRONS),
Defense Mechanisms Inventory, Coping Responses Inventory (CRI), CRI-youth, Conners (CBRS)-Self Report, Behavioral and Psychological Assessment of Dementia, Aggression Questionnaire, Adult Neuropsychological Questionnaire, Adolescent Psychopathology Scale-Short Form (APS) and Activities of Daily Living Scale.

Psychwest Clinical & Forensic Psychology/ Psychology Intern, Yuba City & Rocklin, CA.

Supervised by Craig West, Psy.D., 2014-2015

Provided clinical and forensic psychological assessments, including SSI Disability evaluations, ADHD, and specific learning disabilities. Tests included: WAIS-IV, WISC-IV, WMS-IV, WRAT-4, BSID-III, Bayley-III, Vineland-II, Bender Gestalt-II, Trails A & B, and TONI-III. Responsible for interviewing, administering/scoring test protocol, report writing, and DSM- IV diagnostic formulation and recommendations. Participated in individual and group supervision to evaluate treatment plans and outcomes.

Parole Outpatient: Consortium for Community Services (CCS), S. Sacramento, CA. Supervised by Marvin Ali, Ph.D., 2013-2014.

Collaborated with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and worked in partnership with Integrated Services for Mentally Ill Parolees (ISMIP) to provide co-located services to help transition parolees back into the community. Provided mental health assessments, group therapy, rehabilitation, and therapeutic intervention to individuals in crisis using CBT and relevant treatment approaches to improve psychological functioning and to reduce mental disabilities. Assessed for Feigning and malingering; partnered with CDCR psychiatrists to ensure parolees' medications were appropriate per their mental health diagnosis. Developed, wrote, and facilitated a group therapy curriculum entitled, Women's Empowerment, which focused on female criminogenic needs for mentally ill parolees. Served adult mentally ill parolees, including Sex Offenders (PC 290), by providing mental health, crisis, and case management needs including support, monitoring, treatment, service coordination, and mental health diagnostic examinations. Provided general mental health services to a case load of approximately 13-17 parolees by providing clinical assessments, risk management, treatment, crisis intervention, therapy, and other indicated mental health services in the best interest of the parolee.

Yuba City Unified School District/Psychology Intern, 2012-2013.

Conducted intellectual and psychological assessments including WISC-IV, CTOPP, BERRY VMI, CVALT, KABC II, BASC, CONNERS, MACI, TAT, and RISB. Attended Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) meetings and collaborated with local probation agencies to assist at-risk youths in the school system. Provided assessments and treatment planning for emotionally disturbed and neglected children with ADHD, specific learning disabilities, and/or intellectual deficiencies. Served a diverse population, composed primarily of Hispanic children ages 5-15 by providing non-verbal testing to bilingual and non English speaking children to assess for learning disabilities.

Licenses

Licensed Forensic Psychologist, CA PSY33167
Licensed in Nevada PY1101
Licensed under PSYPACT

Affiliations

Sacramento Psychological Association
Forensic Mental Health Association of California
California Superior Court Appointed Expert

Awards & Honors

Awards & Scholarships

Doctoral Fellowship Award from Soroptimist International- Sierra Nevada Region, 2016
The “RUBY Award” from Soroptimist International of Redding, 2016
“Be a HERO to Your Children” recognition award from One Safe Place, Shasta County, 2015
“20 Under 40 Emerging Leader” award published in the 2013 Redding Record Searchlight, 2012
“HERO Award” from the Shasta Family Justice Center & The Shasta Women's Refuge, 2012
“Women's Opportunity Award” from Soroptimist International of Redding, 2012
California Family Justice Initiative Learning Exchange Scholarship Award, San Diego, CA., 2012
Voices Scholarship Award Changing the World International Family Justice Center, 2011

Seminars & Training

Presentations/Guest & Key Note Speaker

Key note speaker for One Safe Place fundraiser event, 2019 & 2020
Guest speaker for Soroptimist International-Awards presentation dinner, 2017
Guest speaker for Soroptimist International- Fellowship Award, Reno, Nevada, 2016
Guest speaker for discussion panel ‘Until the Violence Stops' at Shasta College, 2012
Guest speaker at Homes for Hope board meeting, 2012
Guest speaker for Domestic Violence class at Marinello's School of Cosmetology November 2012
Guest speaker at Institute of Technology for the Criminology & Nursing Program October 2012
Guest speaker panel for ‘Enough' video presentation at Shasta Community College September 2012
Guest speaker the East Redding Rotary club, Voices Against Family Violence, 2012
Guest speaker at Redding City Council Chambers meeting, 2012
Co-hosted Take Back the Night at Redding City Hall, 2012
Annual guest speaker for Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Training- 2012- 2021
Key note speaker for a Voices training video for Shasta Family Justice Center, 2011 & 2012
Guest speaker for Jan Daley Benefit Concert c/o Shasta Family Justice Center, 2011

Publications

Media & Radio Publications
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace- 5 episodes including Lori Vallow
CrimeDoor Television S1:E59, S1: E76, episodes from 12/22 to 5/23
Mean Girl Murders- Expert Profiler S1, Ep 11 and S1, Ep3
Channel 7 News Interview on Competency to Stand Trial, May 2023
The Record Searchlight newspaper: Emerging Leadership Award ‘20 Under 40', 2013.
KCNR 1460 AM radio: ‘Purpose Driven People Living their Passion and Making a Difference', 2012.
The Anderson Valley Post- interview for 2011 Take Back the Night, 2012.
Stronger Together DVD/ 30-second spot and 5-minute training video, 2011 & 2012.
The Self-Worth Project' KCNR radio interview, 2011.

Professional References

Kent Caruso, PhD

Education

Doctorate Degree in Clinical Forensic Psychology
Alliant International University/California
School of Forensic studies 2012-2016
Received Doctoral Fellowship Award from Soroptimist International for dissertation research to better understand domestic violence homicide. "Understanding the Physical and Psychological Experiences' of Intimate Partner Strangulation Survivors."

Master's Degree in Clinical Forensic Psychology
Alliant International University 2012-2014
Completed study abroad program in Huddersfield, England.
Criminal Justice in the U.K versus California's system: Cops, Courts & Corrections (2013).

Master's coursework Forensic Science with Specialization in Investigations
National University 2007-2008

Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice Administration
National University 2005-2007
Received Honors for Senior Research Project: The Importance of Collection and Preservation of Crime Scene Evidence. (Supervised
by the Department of Justice).

Associate of Art's Degree in general education
Shasta Community College 2002-2004