Trauma-Informed Legal Advocacy Evaluation

Serenity Counseling & Resources Center, Inc. conducts Trauma-Informed Legal Advocacy Evaluations for adolescents/juveniles and adults with a history of trauma and involvement in the court system. A Trauma-Informed Legal Advocacy Evaluation is a specialized and advocacy-driven evaluation process, requiring unique clinical skills and legal awareness to integrate traumatic findings into court reports as well as incorporate trauma-informed skills to help clients/consumers and legal professionals to recognize the effects of primary and secondary/vicarious trauma.

An experienced licensed clinician with several specialty certifications including Clinical Certified Trauma Professional as well as being a licensed attorney will conduct the evaluation and provide a therapeutic framework to enhance knowledge of how trauma exposure may affect one’s behaviors, actions, responses, and interpersonal relationships with others (e.g. attorney-client relationship, teacher-student relationship, parent-child relationship, sibling relationship, spousal relationship, employee-employer relationship, etc.). Clinical efforts are also utilized to assist individuals to cope with stressful court involvement as well as utilize clinical strategies to decrease the risk of becoming re-traumatized during court proceedings. A great deal of advocacy is encompassed to help legal professionals to consider factors and tailor practices/approaches when interacting with or representing clients/consumers who have a history of a traumatic experience.