Massachusetts Association of Guardians ad Litem, Inc. presents:
Bridging the Divide: Trauma-Informed Practice in Family Court
This is the second part of a two-part series regarding trauma and the family
Keynote Speakers
Philip M. Stahl, PhD, ABPP
&
Rebecca Stahl, JD, LLM
With a judicial panel including:
Hon. Thomas Barbar
Hon. Susan L. Jacobs
Hon Roxann C. Tetreau
With the following family forensic panelists:
Karen Cohen, JD
Elizabeth Frick, Psy.D.
Windsor Rose Ferrara, M.Ed.
Tuesday, May 12, 2026
8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.
at
The Conference Center at Waltham Woods
860 Winter St, Waltham, MA 02451
And also available virtually via Zoom
GALs, PCs, lawyers, and mental health professionals are increasingly tasked with understanding and addressing trauma in the lives of children and families. This conference will expand upon concepts addressed during our fall conference and discuss practical applications to family law cases for GALs, PCs, lawyers, and mental health professionals. It is not necessary to have attended the fall conference.
Dr. Stahl and Attorney Stahl will focus on how GALs and PCs can address trauma within their practices in an informed and child-focused manner and create practical and realistic solutions for families. They will also discuss best practices for working with families experiencing trauma in forensic investigations and dispute resolution processes.
Learning Objectives:
- How to implement a trauma-informed approach in child custody investigations and evaluations
- How to implement a trauma informed approach in the parent coordination process
- Alternative approaches in child custody investigations and evaluations to enable practitioners to work with families in a trauma-sensitive manner
- How GALs, PCs, lawyers, and mental health professionals can assist Probate and Family Court judges in identifying and addressing trauma in court-involved families
Conference Schedule
*Exact times are subject to change slightly prior to the conference. A final conference agenda will be provided prior to the conference.
| Time |
Session |
| 8:30 – 8:45 |
Welcome remarks and introduction
Thomas Ritter, JD, PhD, President
Linda Ouellette, JD, Education Committee Chairperson |
| 8:45 – 10:15 |
Keynote presentation by Dr. Stahl and Attorney Stahl |
| 10:15 – 10:45 |
Break |
| 10:45 – 12:30 |
Keynote presentation by Dr. Stahl and Attorney Stahl (continued) |
| 12:30 – 1:30 |
Lunch (provided for in-person attendees) |
| 1:30 – 2:00 |
Q & A with Dr. Stahl and Attorney Stahl |
| 2:00 – 3:00 |
Tying it all together: A panel discussion with a Category E Guardian Ad Litem, a Category F Guardian Ad Litem, and a Parenting Coordinator:
- Karen Cohen, JD
- Elizabeth Frick, PsyD.
- Windsor Rose Ferrera, M.Ed.
Joined by Dr. Stahl and Attorney Stahl and members of our judicial panel:
- Hon. Thomas Barbar
- Hon. Susan L. Jacobs
- Hon Roxann C. Tetreau
Moderated by Sheara Friend, JD
|
| 3:00 – 3:15 |
Break |
| 3:15 – 4:15 |
Continued panel discussion |
| 4:15 – 5:00 |
Q&A / Wrap up |
Keynote Speakers
Philip M. Stahl, PhD, ABPP
Dr. Philip Stahl is a Board-certified forensic psychologist in private practice, living in Southern California, who provides consultation and expert witness testimony in child custody litigation throughout the United States, North America, and Australia. His primary area of specialty is relocation, including complex international relocations. Dr. Stahl is licensed in California and Hawaii. He conducts workshops and training throughout the United States and internationally for lawyers, child custody evaluators, and others working with high-conflict families of divorce. He is on the faculty of National Judicial College, teaching domestic violence to judges since 2000, and regularly speaks at state judicial colleges.
Along with his teaching, Dr. Stahl has written extensively on high-conflict divorce and custody evaluations. He is the author of Conducting Child Custody Evaluations: From Basic to Advanced Issues (Sage Publications, 2010) and Parenting After Divorce, 2nd Edition (Impact Publishers, 2008) and is co-author, with Dr. Robert Simon, of Forensic Psychology Consultation in Child Custody Litigation: A Handbook for Work Product Review, Case Preparation, and Expert Testimony (American Bar Association Section of Family Law, 2nd Edition, 2020).
His most exciting project has been his book, written with his daughter Rebecca Stahl, JD, LLM, titled, Representing Children in Dependency and Family Court: Beyond the Law, published by the ABA Family Law Section in 2018.
Rebecca Stahl, JD, LLM
Rebecca Stahl is the Co-Executive Director of Somatic Experiencing International. Rebecca M. Stahl was previously the Executive Director of the Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children and the Courts at the University of Baltimore School of Law before starting as Interim Executive Director at SE International. Rebecca previously represented children in child welfare cases in Los Angeles, County California and in Tucson, Arizona. Rebecca was a Fulbright Scholar in New Zealand and earned a Master of Law degree from the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand and studied the role of lawyers for children in family court cases. Rebecca has presented at a variety of international conferences focused on children's rights and family law on topics ranging from the role of lawyers for children to trauma.
Rebecca coauthored, Representing Children in Dependency and Family Law: Beyond the Law, a book focused on the psychological issues lawyers for children need to understand to represent their child clients and has published articles on the role of children's representation, including a recent one on trauma, published in October 2020 in Family Court Review. Rebecca is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and came to Somatic Experiencing from a background in yoga and seeing trauma manifestations every day in court. Rebecca melds SE and law and teaches trainings around the world to help lawyers navigate trauma manifestations in themselves and in their clients. Rebecca is a non-cishet Jewish person who believes in the power of community as the focal point for growth and healing.
Judicial Panelists
Hon. Thomas Barbar is an Associate Justice of the Suffolk Probate and Family Court. He was appointed by Governor Baker in November of 2017. Judge Barbar is a former Secretary of the Massachusetts Bar Association, and when he practiced as an attorney he was a co-chair of the MBA's Family Law Section Council and was the chair of the MBA's Law Practice Management Section Council. He was also a member of the MBA's Executive Management Board and the Budget and Finance Committee. He is also a member of the Boston Bar Association (Family Law Committee and Trust & Estates Committee). He is also one of the founding members and one of the past directors of the Greater Boston Family Law American Inn of Court. In practice, he was a Principal in the Family Law Department of the former Deutsch Williams Brooks DeRensis & Holland, PC, in Boston, MA, concentrating in the fields of probate and domestic relations. His former practice also included trials in the United States District Court in several international jurisdiction/Hague Convention cases. Prior to joining Deutsch Williams Brooks DeRensis & Holland, P.C., he was a sole practitioner practicing Probate and Family Law, Residential Real Estate and Civil Litigation. Judge Barbar has a B.A. from Villanova University and a J.D. from New England Law – Boston.
Hon. Susan L. Jacobs is first justice of the Dukes County Probate and Family Court in Edgartown. Previously, she was an associate justice for the Norfolk Probate and Family Court. Judge Jacobs was appointed to the court by former Governor Deval Patrick on May 8, 2013, and her nomination was confirmed by the Governor's Council on July 3, 2013. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and her J.D. from Boston University Law School. From 1989 until she joined the Norfolk Probate and Family Court in 2013, Judge Jacobs was a partner at the law firm of Volterra, Goldberg & Jacobs in Attleboro.
Hon Roxann C. Tetreau is an Associate Justice of the Probate and Family Court. Judge Tetreau has presided in the Middlesex and Worcester Divisions of the Court and presently sits in Norfolk County. She was appointed to the bench by Governor Charlie Baker in 2018. She was formerly a partner at the law firm of Eden Rafferty where she primarily focused her practice in the areas of domestic relations and guardianships. She also served as court-appointed counsel in various criminal matters in the District Court and as a conciliator in the Worcester County Bar Association conciliation program. Judge Tetreau is a graduate of Suffolk University Law School.
Family Forensic Panelists
Karen Cohen, J.D. After obtaining her law degree from Northeastern University, Attorney Karen B. Cohen spent over ten years working as a litigation attorney at the Boston law firm of Sherin & Lodgen, specializing in family law. In 2003, Attorney Cohen joined the Law Offices of Susan D. Stamps in Concord, where she expanded her family law services to include mediation and collaborative law, guardian ad litem investigations and parenting coordination. In September, 2016, Attorney Cohen began her own law firm, where she continues to provide the quality and type of legal services found at the more prestigious Boston law firms, but in a suburban location. Attorney Cohen obtained a Master's degree in clinical psychology from Case Western University, graduated summa cum laude from Tufts University, and prior to law school, worked as a clinical psychologist focusing on families and children. This background allows Attorney Cohen to blend a knowledge of law with an understanding of the complex psychological dynamics of families going through divorce.
Elizabeth Frick, Psy.D. is a licensed psychologist in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Dr. Frick is a director-at-large on the MAGAL Board of Directors, past clerk, and serves on the Governance and Nominating Committees. She is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine and consultant to the Tufts Comprehensive Evaluation Center. Dr. Frick is the former Director of the Outpatient and Partial Hospitalization Substance Abuse Programs at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
Windsor Rose Ferrara, M.Ed. founded Windsor Consulting in 2014 and she has helped numerous families with a wide range of needs navigate the complex world of divorce. Windsor earned her undergraduate degree in Sociology from Harvard University in 1995, with Magna Cum Laude distinction, including significant coursework in Psychology, and an undergraduate thesis on Inclusion in the Massachusetts Public School System. Windsor earned Master's Degrees in Elementary and Special Education from the Boston College School of Education in 1997, while teaching in the Dover-Sherborn Public School System.
Windsor was trained in Parent Coordination by the Cooperative Parenting Institute in 2013. She serves as a Parent Coordinator and a consultant and has helped hundreds of families create parenting plans that works well for their children. Windsor has been appointed as a Parent Coordinator pursuant to Standing Order 1-17 by numerous Justices of the Probate and Family Court in the Commonwealth. She is a member of the Massachusetts Association of Guardians ad Litem (MAGAL) and the Massachusetts chapter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC).
Moderator
Sheara Friend, JD – her family law practice is built upon her reputation as a fierce advocate for individuals and families. A seasoned courtroom champion, Sheara has devoted over thirty years to the practice of family law, including all aspects of divorce and separation, complaints for contempt and modification, and appeals. She is well-versed in high net-worth divorces, mediation, and collaborative law. Sheara has experience in all aspects of family law, including parenting plans, contested custody matters, out-of-state removal, estrangement, alienation, children's rights, child support, paternity, alimony/spousal support, domestic violence, restraining orders, neglect and abuse. Her practice also includes preparing or reviewing prenuptial and postnuptial agreements.
Sheara is a well-known trial lawyer who has successfully represented clients in numerous complex multi-day trials for divorce, custody and relocation in the Massachusetts Probate and Family Courts and has effectively argued appeals of Probate & Family Court judgments. Sheara also practices Collaborative Law and belongs to the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals and the Massachusetts Collaborative Law Council.
Registration Cost
Early Bird Registration (until April 28, 2026): $250 for MAGAL members; $275 for non-members and $350, including the cost of membership in MAGAL for one year
Late Registration (after April 28, 2026): $265 for members, and $300 for non-members.
CE Credits
- CE Credits have been requested through MPA for psychologists
- 6.5 CE Credits have been requested for Category V - Parenting Coordinators.
- 7.0 CE credits have been requested for independent clinical social workers, mental health counselors, marriage and family therapists
- 7.0 CE Credits have been requested for CPCS/CAFL.
Those who prefer to mail a check may do so by sending one to:
MAGAL Inc. PO Box 304, Franklin, MA 02038.
