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 30 years, specializing in Forensic Family work. California Lic. # PSY10214

Court Roles and Consultation

  • Dr. Sullivan serves in numerous court appointed roles – custody evaluator, mediator, special master, and coparent counselor in courts across California.
  • He also provides expert testimony in custody situations in jurisdictions across the country.
  • Dr. Sullivan 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)

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 Child Alienation.
  • 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.
  • Dr. Sullivan co-chaired of the AFCC’s 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 
  • 2019-2020 President of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts International Organization  the Board of Directors and has served on it’s California Chapter Board of Directors.