Shelley Coate

Service Description

Dr. Coate has been a licensed Psychologist for over 25 years, currently licensed in AZ and CA. She began her clinical training well before she earned her doctorate, and worked in a minimum-security prison in Massachusetts as a young new graduate. This fueled her passion for psycho-legal / forensic evaluations and assessments. After earning two Master's Degrees, and a Doctorate Degree, she was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy, where she completed her residency at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Chevy Chase, MD. The next three years were spent at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD where she managed the Eating Disorder Program t for over 4000 midshipmen. She provided education to 1500 Naval personnel, provided treatment and diagnostic services for these up-and-coming military leaders. The foundation of Dr. Coate’s Forensic work, however, is her extensive experience as a clinical psychologist in various settings where she performed countless Pre-employment Screening Evaluations, Fitness for Duty evaluations, and Compensation and Pension evaluations for the VA. She has worked in multiple areas within the criminal justice system within five states (Massachusetts, Georgia, California, Arizona, Maryland) including; probation, parole, juvenile and family court, county attorney’s office, and the prison system. More recently, she has contracted with multiple law enforcement agencies, including the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Veterans Administration (VA), Psybar, and Psychological Consulting Associates (PCA). As a therapist, she has supported multiple agencies with critical incident debriefings, officer involved shooting assessments, and PTSD assessment and treatment. Dr. Coate’s understanding of the forensic population gives her the skills necessary to provide comprehensive clinical and forensic conceptualizations of the difficult issues.