VITA

EDUCATION

Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA (APA- Accredited)
Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (December 17, 2002)

MCP Hahnemann University, Philadelphia, PA (APA –Accredited)
Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology (May 21, 1999)

Colgate University, Hamilton, NY
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and History (June 1995)
Magna Cum Laude
Honors in History
Psi Chi (Psychology Honor Society) and Psi Alpha Theta (History Honor Society) member

CLINICAL EXPERIENCE

The Stress Center, Forked River, NJ
Evaluator (July 2009 to present)

  • Conduct psychological assessments for nuclear power companies to determine employee eligibilityfor unescorted access to nuclear facilities

Allied Associates in Mental Health (AAMH), Glenside, PA
Clinical Coordinator (August 2008 to present)

  • Provide clinical consultation, training, and supervision to employees of wrap-around services agency for children in Philadelphia County
  • Review progress notes, treatment plans, behavior plans to help ensure compliance with Community Behavioral Health (CBH) standards
  • Conduct Comprehensive Bio-Psychosocial Evaluations and Re-Evaluations

Court Conciliation and Evaluation Service of Bucks County (CCES), Bucks County, PA
Evaluator (April 2008 to October 2009)

  • Conduct child custody evaluations referred by the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas within a structured conciliation format designed to resolve custody disputes, provide recommendations to the court, and to reduce parental conflict in order to increase effective co-parenting abilities and serve the best interests of the child.

Private Practice, Yardley, PA
Clinical and Forensic Psychologist (September 2006 to present)

  • Conduct psychological assessments (i.e., juvenile transfer, sentencing mitigation, competency, child custody) for use in the Pennsylvania judicial system
  • Provide expert testimony in related court proceedings

Philadelphia Mental Health Care Corporation (PMHCC), Philadelphia, PA
Specialized Clinical and Criminal Justice Unit -Clinical Psychologist (November 2005 to January 2008)

  • Was responsible for the clinical and professional functions in facilitating the delivery of mental health services to persons diagnosed with mental illness in the Philadelphia Behavioral Health System
  • Provided assessment (i.e., risk assessment, intellectual functioning, personality assessment), consultation, supervision of mental health providers, and expert testimony on behalf of the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health
  • Provided supervision for Ph.D. and B.A. level mental health professionals
  • Project Director for the Perinatal Depression Project, a project that conducted screening and skilled assessment for depression for pregnant and post-partum women in order to provide consultation for linkages to community-based intervention services for depression.

Ann Klein Forensic Center, Trenton, NJ
Clinical Staff Psychologist 1 (2002 to 2005)

  • Provided assessment (i.e., intellectual, competency related, malingering, risk, psycho-sexual, etc.), and individual treatment to patients on the Admissions Unit/ ITU and Step-Down Unit for mentally ill persons who required in-patient hospitalization at the NJ state forensic hospital
  • Developed and implemented behavior plans and conducted related staff training
  • Provided expert testimony in court proceedings
  • Provided supervision for psychology practicum student

Ann Klein Forensic Center, Trenton, NJ
Clinical Staff Psychologist 3 (2002)

  • Provided assessment (i.e., risk, psycho-sexual, etc.) and treatment (i.e., group and individual) to civilly committed sex offenders

Intern -Trenton Psychiatric Hospital, Trenton, NJ (2000 to 2001)

  • Completed an APA approved internship at New Jersey state psychiatric hospital, with rotations on admissions and chronic wards
  • Individually and co-led various therapy groups on anger management, patient education, social skills training, and problem solving
  • Conducted individualized psychological assessments (e.g., intelligence testing, risk assessment, projective and objective assessment) and maintained a caseload of individual clients
Intern- Ann Klein Forensic Center, Trenton, NJ (2000 to 2001)
  • Obtained a one-day internship position in a forensic psychiatric hospital providing both assessment and treatment to committed persons who had pending legal charges, were determined to be incompetent to stand trial, or with histories of violent behavior
  • Co-led anger management group for civilly committed sex offenders
  • Conducted psychological assessments (e.g., malingering, intelligence testing, risk assessment)
DREXEL UNIVERSITY, Philadelphia, PA

Practicum Student - Forensic Psychology Clinic (1999 to 2000)

  • Conducted assessments and prepared written reports for juvenile transfer, capital sentencing, independent medical evaluation, and for the Professional Ethics Board of Pennsylvania. (Supervisor: Kirk Heilbrun, Ph.D., ABPP)

Coordinator - Project STOP (1999 to 2000)

  • Assisted the Director (Christine Maguth Nezu, Ph.D., ABPP) and Co-Director (Arthur M. Nezu, Ph.D.) with the operational aspects of Project STOP (Sex Offender Treatment of Persons with Mental Retardation). This program was sponsored by the Philadelphia County Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, and provided testing, assessment, and treatment to clients who were at risk for sexually inappropriate behavior or who hade been adjudicated or paroled for sexual offenses. Treatment included cognitive-behavioral therapy, problem-solving, and relapse prevention
  • Assumed a leadership role in the recruitment, training, and supervision of graduate student therapists
  • Conducted intake interviews for new referrals
  • Supervised daily clinical activity

Assistant Research Coordinator - Project STOP (1998 to 1999)

  • Served as liaison between Dr. C. Nezu and the correctional facilities at which research was conducted
  • Scheduled research interviews; trained research assistants; and supervised data compilation

Practicum Student - Project STOP (1997 to 2000)

  • Conducted psychological assessments, wrote intake evaluations, and provided individual and group psychotherapy
  • Prepared weekly progress notes and quarterly summaries for each client

Research Assistant - Project STOP (1996 to 2000)

  • Assisted Dr. C. Nezu with a study of men incarcerated for sexual offending behavior, conducting structured interviews, reviewing criminal records, and compiling data in order to develop an effective treatment model
  • Administered measures for the study; compiled and entered research data; and conducted statistical analysis
  • Worked with Dr. C. Nezu to develop a treatment manual for problem-solving therapy for persons with sex offending behavior
  • Co-lead the pilot therapy group for male parolees as part of a treatment outcome study

Therapist - Drexel University Student Counseling Center (1999 to 2000)

  • Performed intake evaluations and provided individual therapy. (Supervisor: Pamela Geller, Ph.D.)

PRESENTATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS

Lawler, A. (2003). Gender, sexual orientation, and victim blame regarding male victims of sexual assault.
-Drexel Theses and Dissertations Collection.

Lawler, A. (2003). Gender, sexual orientation, and victim blame regarding male victims of sexual assault.
Poster presented at the 37th Annual Convention of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Boston, MA (Presenter)

Lawler, A.L., Nezu, C.M., Nezu, A.M., Dudek, J.A., Wasserman, A.L., Chung, S., Loza, A.S., and Peacock, M.A. (1999). Understanding the Sexual Aggressor: Problem-solving and distortion, denial, and deviance. Poster presented at the 12th Annual MCP Hahnemann University of the Health Sciences Research and Scholarship Conference, Philadelphia, PA. (Presenter).

Nezu, C.M., Nezu, A.M., Heilbrun, K., Wasserman, A.L., Stoll, J., and Lawler, A.D. (1999). Development of a cognitive-behavioral treatment for sexual offenders: A partnership between psychology and law enforcement. Poster presented at the 12th Annual MCP Hahnemann University of the Health Sciences Research and Scholarship Conference, Philadelphia, PA. (Presenter).

Nezu, C.M., Nezu, A.M., Wasserman, A.L., Lawler, A.D., Stoll, J., and Good, William, W.D. (1999). Problem-solving therapy manual for sexual offenders. Unpublished manuscript. MCP Hahnemann University, Philadelphia, PA.

Lawler, A., Nezu, C., Nezu, A., McGuffin, P., Ali, A., Loza, A., and Wsserman, A. (1998). The problem-solving task for sexual offenders (PST-SO): Assessment of the reliability in a developmentally disabled patient sample. Poster presented at the Second Annual Allegheny University of the Health Sciences Research and Scholarship Conference, Philadelphia, PA and the 32nd Annual Convention of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Washington, D.C. (Presenter).

Nezu, C.M., Nezu, A.M., McGuffin, P., Dudek, J., Chung, S., Festinger, D., Friedman, S., Good, W., Kalal, D., Lawler, A., Saad, R., and Wasserman, A. (1997). Project STOP (Sex Offender Treatment of Persons with Mental Retardation). Poster presented at the First Annual Allegheny University of the Health Sciences Research and Scholarship Conference, Philadelphia, PA.

Fontana, A.M., Brown, J., Glick, J., Keller, S., Lawler, A., Wolff, A., and McLaughlin, M. (1995). Menstrual cycle effects on cardiovascular reactivity in women with a parental history of hypertension. Paper presented at the 16th Annual Society of Behavioral Medicine Conference, San Diego, CA.

WORKSHOPS

Lawler, A. (2003, April). Malingering. University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ.

Lawler, A. (2004, April). Malingering. University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ.

Lawler, A. (2007, May). Severe mental illness: Diagnosis and psychopharmacological treatment. Philadelphia Community Court. Philadelphia, PA.

Nezu, C.M., Nezu, A.M., Dudek, J.A., Wasserman, A.L., Chung, S., Lawler, A.D., Loza, A.S., and Peacock, M.A. (1998). Assessment and treatment of mentally retarded sex offenders. Presentation to Woods Services, Langhorne, PA. (Presenter).

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS AND ACTIVITIES

American Psychological Association

Pennsylvania Psychological Association

American Psychology-Law Society

Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice

Conference Planning Committee Member (2006, 2007), Grantville, PA, Annual Forensic Rights and Treatment Conference

Risk Assessment Committee Member, Philadelphia Department of Human Services (2007-2008)

MEDIA AND PUBLIC APPEARANCES

Various television news interviews. Topics: The Kensington strangler case, the Skyler Kauffman case, the Gabrielle Giffords shooting, sexual and violent offending, serial homicides, sexual offenders, forensic profiling, bullying, mental illness and violence (Fox News, The "Good Morning Philadelphia" Show) (2010-present)

Scorned: Love Kills, Episode 104: "Never Enough" The Craig Rabinowitz Story (Discovery ID Channel). Original Air Date: January 28, 2012