ABOUT DR. SULLIVAN
Matthew J. Sullivan, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist in private practice in California, who specializes in forensic child and family psychology.
After receiving his A.B. from Stanford, where he majored in Human Biology with a focus on Neurobiology, he obtained his Ph. D. in Clinical/Community Psychology from University of Maryland in 1985. He returned to the San Francisco Bay Area for his internship at the Palo Alto Veterans administration where he continued his emphasis on Family Systems.
Dr Sullivan has been in private practice in California for over 35 years, specializing in Forensic Family work. California Lic. # PSY10214
Court Roles and Consultation
- Dr. Sullivan has served in numerous court appointed roles custody evaluator, mediator, special master, and coparent counselor in courts across California.
- He has also provided expert testimony in custody situations in jurisdictions across the country.
- Dr. Sullivan currently provides consultation services to the Courts, forensic professionals, Family Law attorneys and parents in the context of child custody issues.
- He does trainings and presentations internationally on topics related to high conflict coparenting.
Awards and Acknowledgements
- Joseph Drown award from the California Association of Family and Conciliation Courts for outstanding services to children in the state (2012)
- Certificate of Appreciation in acknowledgement of exceptional work contributed on behalf of the families and children in Superior Court, to Family Court Services, Santa Clara County (1995)
- Meritorious Service Award from Santa Clara County Family Court, in acknowledgement of contributions to the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (1994)
- AFCC”s Tim Salius President’s Award 2023
- Meyer Elkin Essay Award, 2024. The Meyer Elkin Essay Award is presented to the author(s) of the article judged as the best of those published in Family Court Review for each volume. The winning article was, “The Use of Parental Alienation Constructs by Family Justice System Professionals: A Survey of Belief Systems and Practice Implications”, co-authored with Marsha Kline-Pruett, Janet Johnston, Michael Saini, and Peter Salem, Family Court Review, vol. 61 PP.372-394 (April 2023) https://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12716
Training, Task Forces and Board Roles
- Dr. Sullivan has written articles, presented and done training at numerous national and international venues on topics such as high-conflict divorce, Parent Coordination, Forensic Consultation Court-involved therapy and Parent-child Contact Problems
- In 2007, Dr. Sullivan provided the California Rule of Court 5.225 mandatory training of over 200 Custody Evaluators in California.
- He served on the editorial board of the Journal of Child Custody and the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts Task Forces on Parenting Coordination from 2003-2007 and 2017-2019. He was appointed in 2007 to a joint working group of the American Psychological Association and the American Bar Association to develop innovative psychological and legal interventions with Parents, Children and Families.
- He is has been on the editorial board of the Family Court Review since 2018
- Dr. Sullivan co-chaired of the AFCCs task force on Court-involved therapy. This group provided the first guidelines for mental health treatment roles in the Court context (see post of guidelines on this website).
- Member American Psychological Association
- 2016-2018, Member of the America Psychological Association Ethics Committee
- 2019-2020 President of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts International Organization  the Board of Directors and has served on AFACC’s California Chapter Board of Directors.
Click on Link below for Dr. Sullivan’s recent CV
http://sullydoc.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/MJS.CV_.2024.pdf