FORENSIC ASSESSMENT - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Founder
• President of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers

Kerry Nelligan is a Licensed Psychologist in Massachusetts, New York, Wisconsin, and New Hampshire. She has expertise in clinical and forensic psychology with expertise in the assessment of risk of general, sexual, and targeted violence and developing interventions/plans to manage these risks. Dr. Nelligan earned her Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology at Antioch University New England and completed her APA Accredited Predoctoral Internship and Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, a training program operated in concert with the Division of Public Psychiatry of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and the Harvard Medical School's Psychiatry Department. Since 2019 she has served as a Forensic Psychologist in the Court Clinic in District Courts in Massachusetts where she performs statutory evaluations including evaluations of Competence to Stand Trial and Criminal Responsibility (c.123, s.15a); evaluation of the Need for Hospitalization of Mentally Ill Prisoners (c. 123, s.18a); Determination of the Mental Condition of Witnesses (c.123, s.19); Evaluation of the need for Commitment of Substance Abusers (c.123, s.35); and Aid in Sentencing Evaluations (c.123, s. 15e). Subsequent to completion of her Postdoctoral Fellowship, Dr. Nelligan began employment at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center (MMHC), the Department of Mental Health's outpatient clinic in Boston, where she was hired as full-time staff/faculty. In addition to other roles she held there, she was the Coordinator for the MMHC Mental Illness/Problematic Sexual Behavior (MI/PSB) program and in this capacity, coordinated referrals and completed (or supervised to completion) all MI/PSB Assessments for clients referred in the Metro Boston Area. Dr. Nelligan assumed clinical administrative roles within MMHC for several years. She was the Director of Clinical Risk Management, responsible for consultation to staff, community vendors, and the other members of the administrative team on the day-to-day management of risk-related issues. After a promotion to Acting Director of Clinical Services, she oversaw all aspects of risk management and clinical services at MMHC. She performed a number of administrative duties such as staff supervision and the hiring of clinical staff. During her tenure at MMHC, Dr. Nelligan was a member of the psychology faculty where she provided individual supervision and didactic training to a large number of multidisciplinary trainees each year. Training the next generation of forensically oriented community psychologists is a major passion. In 2019, Dr. Nelligan was appointed as a Qualified Examiner by the Department of Corrections for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In this role she performs evaluations to determine whether individuals convicted of sexual offenses meet the statutory criteria to be civilly committed as Sexual Dangerous Persons (SDP). Dr. Nelligan has also been retained as a defense expert in SDP commitment proceedings. She has also served as a member of the Community Access Board (CAB) at the Massachusetts Treatment Center. In addition, Dr. Nelligan provides consultations for the District Attorney's Office in several counties in the Commonwealth, opining as to whether the DA should initiate SDP proceedings. Dr. Nelligan is the current President of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (MATSA) and has been a member for over a decade. MATSA advocates and lobbies for the implementation of evidence-based legislation and public policy focused on issues related to sex offenders. Dr. Nelligan is a Core Team Member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) MassBay Threat Assessment Team (MBTAT). MBTAT is a multidisciplinary team comprised of law enforcement and mental health professionals and various other stakeholders dedicated to the prevention of targeted acts of violence through collaboration and sharing information and resources. In this role, Dr. Nelligan plays a role in assessing the level of risk posed by a potential perpetrator of targeted violence and helps to identify interventions and resources that can be employed to disrupt and mitigate such threats. Dr. Nelligan is the founder of Forensic Assessment, Training, and Consultation Services (FACTS), LLC. In her private practice she conducts forensic evaluations and community-based risk assessments for attorneys, individuals and agencies who work with people who have serious mental illness and intellectual or developmental disabilities. Her assessments determine risk management and treatment needs for individuals with histories of sexual and/or general violence, stalking, targeted violence, animal cruelty and firesetting. She has assessed and treated perpetrators of general and sexual violence for the past 15 years in the community as well as within the Juvenile Justice, Federal Prison, and State Correctional systems.