MAGAL PRESENTS:
Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner Violence,
and Coercive Control:
What You See and What You Don't See
Thursday, November 21, 2024
8:30 am – 5:00 pm
The Conference Center at Waltham Woods, Waltham, MA
and Virtually via Zoom
(Lunch included for in-person participants)
$225 for members / $250 for non members
This conference will highlight the following:
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An overview of Domestic Violence/Intimate Partner Violence (DV/IPV)
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How to identify and assess Coercive Control in families
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The current state of Massachusetts law regarding DV/IPV
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How the Probate and Family Court and those working with families
grapple with issues of DV/IPV in light of current law
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The impact of DV/IPV on children
MAGAL is seeking 7 hours of continuing education credit for psychologists, social workers, licensed marriage and family therapists, licensed mental health counselors, CPCS attorneys and those on the Probate and Family Court fee generating lists.
Faculty (in alphabetical order):
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Claudette B. Pierre, PhD
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Hon. Susan Ricci (Ret.)
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Erin Shapiro, JD
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Hon. Richard Simons
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Dante Spetter, PhD
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Gary Todd, JD
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Conference Schedule
8:30 - 8:45 Welcome & Introduction
Thomas Ritter, JD, President of MAGAL
Linda Ouellette, JD, Education Committee Chairperson
8:45 - 10:15 Coercive Control & Post-Separation Abuse
Keynote Speakers: Lisa Fontes, PhD & David Adams, EdD
Overview of intimate partner violence and coercive control
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Coercive control dynamics and tactics
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How to distinguish high-conflict divorce from litigation abuse
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Deficits of parents who abuse their (ex)partner
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Ten concrete tips for figuring out what is really going on
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Definition of terms: parental alienation, DARVO, gaslighting, provoke & record, and spiteful disregard
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How to think about gender in domestic abuse
10:15 - 10:30 Break
10:30 - 12:00 Keynote Speakers (continued)
12:00 - 12:45 Evolution of the Law Regarding Domestic Violence, Interpersonal Violence, and Coercive Control
Linda Medeiros, JD
12:45 - 1:45 Lunch
1:45 - 3:15 Assessing Children, Adolescents, and Families
Dante Spetter, PhD, Moderator; Sharon Gordetsky, PhD; Claudette B. Pierre, PhD; Jane Appell, PhD
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Establishment of safety when assessing allegations of DV/IPV in families
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Children's experiences of DV/IPV
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Key issues in the assessment of children and parents
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Appropriate recommendations for parent-child contact and treatment
3:15 - 3:30 Break
3:30 - 5:00 Roundtable: Practical Implications of DV/IPV in Family Law Cases
Hon. Susan Ricci (Ret.), moderator; Hon. Megan H. Christopher; Erin Shapiro, JD; Hon. Richard Simons; Gary Todd, JD
Keynote Presenters:
David Adams, EdD is Co-founder as well as Co-Director of Emerge, the first counseling program in the nation for men who abuse women, established in 1977. David has led groups for men who batter and conducted outreach to victims of abuse for 36 years. He has led parenting education classes for fathers for 12 years. He is one of the nation’s leading experts on men who batter and has conducted trainings for social service and criminal justice professionals in 45 states and 16 nations. He has published numerous articles and book chapters. David serves as an expert witness in legal cases concerning intimate partner and child abuse and the best interests of the child. He is author of Why Do They Kill?: Men Who Murder Their Intimate Partners.
Lisa A. Fontes, PhD, an internationally known expert on coercive control, child abuse, intimate partner abuse, and sexual violence. She has written many journal articles and four books including Invisible Chains: Overcoming Coercive Control in Your Intimate Relationship, the second book ever written on coercive control. She is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies. She has been qualified in seventeen states as an expert witness in family, civil, and criminal court on a range of cases concerning trauma, coercive control, best interests of the child, sexual violence, domestic abuse, child abuse, child development, sexual harassment, parental alienation, and more. You can find many of Dr. Fontes’s articles relevant to coercive control and divorce at www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/invisible-chains, and other relevant articles at www.domesticshelters.org/about/contributing-writers/lisa-aronson-fontes-phd.
Additional Presenters:
Jane Appell, PhD is a psychologist in private practice in Lincoln, MA. Dr. Appell completed an internship at McLean Hospital and worked as a school psychologist prior to developing a practice with a focus on high conflict divorce. She has training in divorce mediation, collaborative divorce and family therapy. She has worked with families of divorce as a psychotherapist, mediator, parenting coordinator, and Guardian ad Litem, and has been an expert consultant to attorneys and mental health professionals. She is the author of Divorce Doesn't Have to Be That Way: A Handbook for the Helping Professional, and she is a consultant at the Tufts Comprehensive Family Evaluation Center. Dr. Appell is a founding member of MAGAL, a longtime board member, past President and former chair of the Education Committee. She also served on the board of the Massachusetts Psychological Association.
Hon. Megan Christopher was appointed in 2012 to serve as a Circuit Justice of the Probate and Family Court, sitting primarily in Suffolk County. A 1989 graduate of Northeastern University School of Law, she represented low-income clients at MetroWest Legal Services for over twenty years. During that time, she represented elders, family law litigants, parents of children with special needs, applicants for government benefits, and immigrants. She is a Trustee of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation and a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts.
Sharon Gordetsky, PhD is a clinical assistant professor at Tufts School of Medicine serving as consultant and director of training at the Comprehensive Family Evaluation Center. After 45 years of assessing and treating children and families and conducting approximately 100 GAL evaluations, she now focuses on forensic consultation and expert testimony. Dr. Gordetsky has appeared in the Boston media, providing advice about how to talk to children following the 9/11 attack. She served as president of the Massachusetts Psychological Association (MPA) and served as a member of the American Psychological Association task force on the UN convention on the rights of children. MPA awarded her the Kenneth Herman PhD, JD, career contribution award for “exceptional commitment to advancing psychology as a science and profession and as a means of promoting human welfare." She has done several presentations on the child’s voice in custody evaluations.
Linda Medeiros, JD established her North Shore practice in 1992, concentrating in complex family law and child welfare matters. She is a graduate of Northeastern University School of Law (1991) and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (1986). She is an experienced practitioner and litigator representing parents and children in all aspects of divorce, custody, guardianship and adoption proceedings in the Probate & Family Court. She currently represents parents and children in child welfare matters in the Massachusetts Appeals Court and Supreme Judicial Court. She has authored materials and lectured for numerous MCLE programs, including programs sponsored by the Children and Family Law Program and the Probate & Family Court.
Claudette Pierre, PhD received her Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University. She completed her pre- and post-doctoral work at UCLA’s Neuropsychiatric Institute, advanced clinical fellowship in family forensics at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Children and the Law Program, and advanced training in couples and family therapy. Dr. Pierre has held academic positions at Harvard, Tufts, Boston University and the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She is a past President of MAGAL, a previous chair of the Education Committee and a present board member. She serves as co-chair of the Ethics committee and co-chair of the Disaster Resource Network for the Massachusetts Psychological Association. Dr. Pierre maintains a full-time psychotherapy practice in Back Bay (Boston) where she see’s couples, adolescents, and adults.
Hon. Susan Ricci (ret.) was an Associate Justice of the Probate & Family Court from 1993 to 2014. Prior to her appointment to the bench, she was in private practice for nine years. Since 2014, Judge Ricci has provided private mediation, conciliation and arbitration services. She is a member of the Inns of Courts and the Family Law Steering Committee of the Boston Bar Association. She was appointed to the Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee and serves on the Board of Directors of MAGAL.
Erin Shapiro, JD is a partner with the Boston law firm of Atwood & Cherny and currently is a managing partner in Northborough, Massachusetts. She has been involved in complex family law disputes on the trial and appellate levels for over twenty-six years. She is regularly appointed as a Discovery Master, Guardian ad Litem, and Conciliator by the Probate and Family Court. Erin engages in pro bono work under the Worcester Probate & Family Courts Attorney Representing Children Program. She is a member of multiple bar associations in addition to MAGAL. She has published and lectured widely on family law issues. She has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America and Massachusetts Super Lawyers.
Hon. Richard Simons currently serves as the First Justice of the Berkshire Division of the Probate and Family Court. He is Chair of the Court’s Education Committee and is a Trustee of the Flaschner Judicial Institute. He serves on the Advisory Committee for both the J2J Mentor Program and Changing Lives Through Literature Committee. When not on the bench, he spends his time with family and pedaling his bike through the beautiful Berkshire Hills.
Dante Spetter, PhD is a Licensed Psychologist who specializes in working with children and families. She serves as a Guardian ad Litem and an Expert Witness in the Probate and Family Court and the Juvenile Court. Dr. Spetter earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology, specializing in Pediatric Health Psychology, from the University of Miami in 1991. She has taught courses in human development at Harvard and Tufts over a period of more than 25 years. Dr. Spetter spent 10 years consulting and training pediatricians, health professionals and psychiatric residents at Tufts Medical Center prior to opening her private practice in Arlington. She is a founding member of and consultant to the Comprehensive Family Evaluation Center at Tufts Medical Center, where she is an Assistant Clinical Professor. Dr. Spetter is on the Board of Directors of MAGAL and currently serves as Vice President.
Gary Todd, JD is a Founding Partner at Todd & Weld LLP. He is a family law practitioner specializing in domestic relations and probate litigation. He has successfully negotiated, mediated and tried numerous family law issues at the trial court and appellate levels, including divorce, custody, parental rights, complex support matters, property division, removal, modification, contempt actions, and complex financial valuation. He has also served as Special Master, Discovery Master, Guardian, Conservator, and Attorney for Children. He was recently President of the Massachusetts Family and Probate American Inn of Court, is on the Board of Trustees at New England School of Law, is a Board Member of MAGAL, a Board Member and President of the Greater Newburyport Bar Association and is an Executive Committee Member of the Judge Abber Counsel Assisted Negotiation Program for Essex, Middlesex and Norfolk Counties Probate and Family Courts.
