OCDMH provides pro bono psychiatric consultation services to Juvenile and Family Court Judges who have questions or concerns related to issues of mental health for wards of the court or children and families at high risk. Initial queries are usually followed up by phone, fax or email communications. At times, more information will be requested and might be provided by the Judge's designee. All information is kept in strictest confidence and is considered privileged. It is required that all names be omitted from conversations and communications. This service is not to be construed as a substitute for psychiatric evaluation or psychological testing. Opinions obtained are for the use of the judge only and are not admissible in a forensic context.

Sometimes it is useful to the court to have a dispassionate "second opinion" about the adequacy, relevance, or accuracy of psychological testing or psychiatric evaluations. At other times the validity of the tests or methods used are at question. The issue of bias or cultural appropriateness may also arise. As a friend of the court, OCDMH provides unbiased "second opinions" for the use by the family or juvenile court judge in both dependency and delinquency. These opinions are never to be used in lieu of proper evaluations. Names must be omitted to protect the privacy of those involved. reports are usually faxed or emailed, but snail mail is sometimes used when time permits. Response occurs in less than 48 hours, often much sooner, and usually by phone or email.

The OCDMH provides lectures, workshops, trainings and presentations nationwide. Areas of special emphasis are mental, emotional, and neurodevelopmental vulnerabilities in high risk children and their parents. Another area of particular interest is juvenile mental health courts. Presentations are usually designed for multidisciplinary audiences of at least 75 persons. Usual audience size is between 200-800 persons. If your organization is interested in a topic for presentation in a lecture, workshop or training, please refer to the REQUESTS tab.

Special areas of expertise include:

Assessing the effectiveness of treatment interventions

Screening large populations of high risk youth

Abuse reactive juvenile offenders

Requirements of adequate mental health assessments for children and their families

Allocation of limited mental health treatment resources

Differentiating bona fide mental disorders from "willful wrongdoing"

Effective treatments at the programmatic and individual level

Effective rehabilitation strategies

Limitations of the current knowledge base

Trans-system problems in communication (e.g. mental health, social services, and juvenile probation) 

For queries about technical assistance please use the requests page or contact Stefany Chong, Executive Director of the OCDMH.

Stefany Chong, Executive Director