The Therapist as Expert Witness: Standard of Care, Objectivity, and Staying in Your Role - An Interview with Nicol Stolar-Peterson, PsyD, LCSW, BCD

The Therapist as Expert Witness: Standard of Care, Objectivity, and Staying in Your Role - An Interview with Nicol Stolar-Peterson, PsyD, LCSW, BCD

Nicol Stolar-Peterson, PsyD, LCSW, BCD on expert witness work for therapists, standard of care, and court roles.

Curt and Katie talk with Nicol, a national expert witness in child abuse, child protective services, and clinical social work, about what it takes for therapists to do this kind of work. The conversation grew out of Curt's first experience as a defense expert in a licensing board complaint, when he turned to Nicol to help him prepare.

Nicol explains how fact witness and expert roles differ, why treating therapists should be cautious when invited to testify as experts, and why standard of care means what a reasonable therapist would do rather than best practice. She also describes staying objective with attorneys trained to persuade, and what records review, reports, and depositions look like in real cases.

A useful listen for therapists curious about expert witness work, clinicians who may be called to testify, and anyone who wants to understand how standard of care gets evaluated in licensing board and civil cases.

In this episode, we discuss:

- What makes a therapist a strong expert witness, including the ability to explain expertise in plain language

- Where therapists find expert work, from child custody evaluations to records review

- How fact witness and expert roles differ, and why treating therapists should stay in their lane

- Why standard of care means reasonable, basic practice rather than best practice

- How experts stay objective when attorneys push for a particular opinion

- What records review, reports, and depositions look like in a typical case

Timestamps:

05:30 - What makes a good expert witness

09:11 - Where therapists find expert work

13:49 - Fact witness, expert witness, and testifying expert roles

22:06 - Standard of care: bronze versus gold

24:30 - Staying objective with attorneys

33:39 - Scheduling and what a typical case involves

37:23 - Depositions, settlements, and trials

Guest Bio:

Nicol Stolar-Peterson, PsyD, LCSW, BCD is a national expert witness in child abuse, child protective services, and clinical social work. She co-founded and runs Kids Court & Counseling Center, a nonprofit that helps children who are victims of crimes and abuse prepare for court testimony. She also provides therapy, trains new social workers, and offers mandated reporting trainings. Learn more at www.nicolstolar.com.

Full show notes and transcript: https://mtsgpodcast.com

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