Matthew Sullivan, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist (California Lic. # PSY10214) in private practice in Palo Alto, California, who specializes in forensic child and family psychology. He has been in private practice in Palo Alto for 20 years, specializing in Forensic Family psychology.

He is a pioneer in the field of Parenting Coordination, which he helped develop in Santa Clara County more than 15 years ago, and has led the development of Parenting Coordination across the U.S. He is one of the most experienced Parent Coordinators (called Special Master in California) in the country. Some of the other roles he serves for families going through divorce include:

  1. Numerous court appointed roles – custody evaluator, mediator, special master, and coparent counselor and consultant – in courts across California,
  2. Expert testimony in custody situations in jurisdictions across the U.S. Dr. Sullivan provides consultation services to forensic professionals, Family Law attorneys and parents in the context of child custody issues.
  3. Numerous articles, published and trainings provided at numerous national and international venues on topics such as high-conflict divorce, Parent Coordination, Forensic Consultation and Child Alienation.
  4. Dr. Sullivan completed a year in 2007 providing 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 Force on Parenting Coordination and was appointed in 2008 to a joint working group of the American Psychological Association and the American Bar Association to develop innovative psychological and legal interventions for parents, children and families.

Dr. Sullivan is currently the co-chair of the AFCC’s task force on Court-involved therapy. The goals are to provide the first guidelines for this role. He was just appointed to a three-year term of office on the Association of Family and Conciliation Court’s Board of Directors.

Academic Background

  1. A.B. from Stanford, Human Biology with a focus on Neurobiology
  2. Ph.D. in Clinical & Community Psychology from the University of Maryland, 1985.
  3. Palo Alto Veterans Administration internship with an emphasis on Family Systems.

Short bio (Word document)