Psychological Assessments for Court

We know psychological assessments for Family Court or other legal proceedings can be stressful and aim to make the process as transparent and simple for you as possible.

Which Courts?

• Family Court of Western Australia
• Magistrates Court of Western Australia
• Any Court or legal proceeding
• Criminal Injuries compensation
• Work Cover

Aresolution services clients in the Perth Metropolitan area and can assist with an independent Psychologist assessment of your current mental health. We can also assist with child protection concerns or parenting capacity to assist with your Family Court processes.

Our Psychologists can provide an independent psychological assessment for offending behaviour or a psychological assessment for an application for criminal injuries compensation.

What is a ‘single expert witness’ report?

A single expert witness psychological report is often required to make an assessment of your psychological functioning. It is important that these reports are provided by an independent practitioner and not your treating mental health practitioner.

If your case involves parenting/children’s issues the Family Court may order a child psychologist or psychiatrist to make an assessment of you and the other parties and the children, and to report to the Court.

What is a ‘treating mental health practitioner’ report?

If your court order requests a report from your treating mental health practitioner and you have not been engaged with your psychologist or general practitioner for some time, you can request for your records to be sent to Life Resolutions and we can establish a therapeutic process with you in order to establish a treating mental health practitioner relationship and provide a report at the end of this process.

Medicare and private health cover rebates where applicable (for treating mental health sessions).

Does the Family Court expert report assess parenting capacity?

At times our clients require an expert witness report, where we provide an individual assessment of parenting capacity in relationship to the issues raised by their ex-partner. This is not a Family Court expert report because it is limited in the assessment.
Parenting capacity is one of three core elements assessed in a Family Court Report. The other two elements are the child’s developmental needs, and wider family and environmental factors.

The family court expert report will assess:

• The parenting arrangement
• Parenting capacity
• How your child is coping
• Your child/ren’s relationship with significant others
• Risk to the children
• Your child’s views/wishes

The Psychologist will conduct a series of interviews over a few days and will meet with you, your ex partner and your child/ren and other relevant people such as siblings, partners or grandparents.

If you would like to book an appointment or obtain a quote please obtain instructions from your solicitor (for Court reports) so we can match you with the best team member and give an accurate quote.

Our rate is $230/hr plus GST

Criminal Injuries Compensation

Criminal Injuries Compensation of W.A 

We can provide Psychological Evaluations for the purposes of ‘Criminal Injury Claims’ through The WA Government Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. The assessment process several structured interviews and psychometric testing  to determine the impact of the criminal event(s) and whether it meets the criteria for a criminal injury application as stipulated by the Criminal Compensation Act (2003). This scheme is set up for ‘Victims of Crime’ and is a relatively simple process which does not generally require legal representation.

Additionally, these claims can generally be made even if the perpetrator/s has not been found or charged. Clients pay for these services themselves generally as these are not covered by external agencies.

Interim payments from the Office of Criminal Injuries Compensation are sometimes available for up to $2250. This is a payment awarded before the final award is assessed to cover costs such as funeral, medical or treatment costs. However, if your action fails, any interim payment amount must be repaid to the State.

Whilst CIC generally only considers claims made within two (2) years of the incident, they can make exceptions where there is a good reason for not making a claim at the time of the incident. Cases considered for Criminal Injury Compensation Applications include physical assault, sexual assault or sexual abuse in childhood.

More information can be found here

If you would like to learn more about Psychological Assessments please contact Aresolution