1. EMAIL CONTACT IS BEST.
Dr. Garber can respond
to email more efficiently than phone
calls. Please do not leave voice mail.
Email creates a written record that
may be useful later. Reach Dr. Garber
at bdgarberphd@FamilyLawConsulting.org.
It may be easier to reach Dr.
Garber's administrative assistant at admin@FamilyLawConsulting.org.
2.
WHAT SERVICE ARE YOU SEEKING? Child
therapist? Evaluator? Testifying expert?
The
purpose of your first contact is to clarify
the role that you'd like Dr. Garber to fill,
whether Dr. Garber is qualified and
available to serve in that role, and the
details associated with that service (e.g.,
cost, timing). This page describes some of
the distinct roles that Dr. Garber serves
in.
3.
PLEASE DO NOT TELL
YOUR STORY,
share your history, or express your concerns.
In some roles,
Dr. Garber must make every effort to remain
impartial. This may mean taking care NOT to
hear your perspective at the start. If you
tell your story in your first contact, you
may actually disqualify Dr. Garber from
providing the service that you're
seeking If its appropriate for Dr.
Garber to hear your story, that time will be
arranged as soon as possible.
In the ideal, your first
communication with Dr. Garber should be
brief and concise. Identify the role you're
seeking to fill, the relevant timing (is
this urgent? is there a hearing coming up
soon?), and inquire about practical details
(e.g., costs, scheduling availability,
distance and travel time).
4. COPY YOUR INITIAL EMAIL TO THE
OTHER ADULTS INVOLVED WHEN APPROPRIATE.
For example, if
you're seeking child therapy, its usually
necessary (and wise) to copy the child's
other parent. If you're seeking co-parenting
or Parenting Coordination, its usually
necessary (and wise) to copy your co-parent.
If you're seeking someone
to conduct a court-ordered evaluation, its
usually necessary (and wise) to copy all
adults involved in the proposed evaluation.
HOWEVER, if you're seeking
expert consultation in an ongoing legal
matter, its usually wise to copy your
attorney but NOT to copy others.
5. ATTACH
RELEVANT DOCUMENTS.
If your request
for services is based on a documented event
(e.g., a child's suspension from school, a
restraining order, or the court's order that
you obtain a psychological service), please
attach that paperwork to your initial
inquiry email. Please DO NOT attach the
entire history of the matter (see #3 above).
Please provide relevant documents as
scanned, searchable (i.e., OCR-formatted)
pdfs.
To illustrate:
[seeking
therapy
for a child:]
"I am a 35
year old father of two looking for a
therapist for my 12 year old son. I've
copying his mother on this note. Can we
talk about how to proceed?"
|
[seeking impartial
court-related evaluation:]
"I'm in the middle of a messy divorce.
The court ordered a family evaluation.
I'm copying my kids' mother on this
note. Please reply to all. I've also
attached the court order. How do we
proceed?"
|
[seeking
expert opinion:]
"I represent a mother in a very
acrimonious custody matter. Alienation
has been alleged. I'm copying my
co-counsel. I have a hearing in 2
months. I'd like to talk to you about
educating the court. Please reach me
asap."
|
6. WHEN MORE THAN ONE
PROFESSIONAL IS NEEDED.
Dr.
Garber provides a number of distinct services
but can only serve in one role with any given
family. This means that Dr. Garber cannot (for
example) be both a child's therapist and an
expert witness in the litigation concerned
with that child.
Keep in mind that
Dr. Garber is specially qualified to provide a
number of child-centered, forensic (that is,
court-related) services (e.g., child custody
evaluation, expert witness). Thus, it may make
sense to find other professionals to provide
services that are more commonly available
(e.g., psychotherapy) and ask Dr. Garber to
serve in these other more specialized roles.
7. HOW WILL DR. GARBER RESPOND? Dr.
Garber will typically reply to your email
inquiries within one business day.
|
If you are
seeking
CLINICAL services:
Clinical
services include individual child,
adult, couples, or family therapy.
Read more here 
(a)
If you are seeking clinical services
for yourself , Dr. Garber will be glad
to schedule an initial interview with
you as schedules permit.
(b). If you are seeking clinical
services for a child AND you are that
child's legal guardian,
Dr. Garber will first ask you to
reach out to the child's other
parent. Unless there are legal
restrictions or acute safety concerns,
Dr. Garber will only provide child
therapy when BOTH (or all) parents are
engaged in the process. In this
situation, Dr. Garber may ask that you
copy your child's other parent(s) on
all preliminary communications.
If
you are seeking clinical services for
a child but are NOT that child's legal
guardian (e.g., step-parent), Dr.
Garber will need to speak with the
child's legal guardians.
(c)
If you are seeking clinical services
for your family, for you and your
adult intimate partner, couples' or
marriage counseling, please copy
the other adult(s) involved on all
preliminary communications.
|
If you
are seeking
FORENSIC services:
Forensic means "court-involved."
Read more here
(a)
Do you have a court order requiring
the service that you're seeking?
Please scan and email or fax that
order to Dr. Garber asap.
(b) Do you have a (temporary)
parenting plan relevant to the
proposed service (e.g., co-parenting
or Parenting Coordination see ).
Please scan and email or fax the
parenting plan asap.
(c) If you are seeking co-parenting or
Parenting Coordination services, please
consider copying your children's
other parent(s) on your
communications with Dr. Garber.
Unilateral communications can
compromise Dr. Garber's (appearance
of) impartiality.
(d)
If you are seeking an impartial
forensic evaluation such as Child
Centered Family Evaluation (CCFE see )
please scan and email or fax the
relevant court order asap.
(e) If you are seeking expert services
relevant to litigation, please
have your lawyer reach Dr. Garber
directly. (read more here ).
In this case. speaking with you, the
litigant, can compromise Dr. Garber's
ability to serve in this role.
|
8.
PLEASE PROVIDE DEMOGRAPHICS:
No matter the service that you're
seeking, Dr. Garber will need to
receive basic identifying information
about everyone (including the
children) who will be involved in that
service.
In some cases, Dr.
Garber will need to conduct a conflict
check to assure that he does not/has
not otherwise provided services to
persons involved in the current
matter.
Please provide:
- Each
person's full name (including
the children)
- Each
person's date of birth
- Each
person's mailing address
- Each
person's phone and email
contact information
- If this is
a legal matter, please provide
the CASE CAPTION (e.g., Smith
v. Jones, NH
627-2019-DM-00xxx.
Dr.
Garber will use these data to open a
file.
Note that some
services require that participants
endorse a Service Agreement
which is generated using these data.
Read more here .
|
Dr. Garber is
typically available to respond to email
Monday through Friday 8am - 5pm eastern time
(USA)
|
