Clinicians
Dr. Shannon Edwards, Psy. D.
Experience
Dr. Edwards’ evaluative experience includes providing parental capacity, child custody, and general mental health evaluations for Family and Juvenile Court; provision of wrongful death, immigration, and personal injury evaluations for Civil Court; and delivering a broad range of evaluations for Criminal Court including competency to stand trial evaluations, criminal responsibility evaluations, mitigating circumstance evaluations, juvenile life without parole evaluations, sexual offender evaluations, and general psychological evaluations. She is available for retention in jury consultation and selection, having provided those services to adjudication and sentencing Courts.
Services
Dr. Edwards provides co-parenting therapy, reunification therapy, supervised visitation, and other court-involved therapy for Family Court. She provides expert testimony to Family Court, regarding the aforementioned individuals’ progress, serving the best interest of the child. Dr. Edwards has conducted individual and group therapy involving individuals diagnosed with serious mental illnesses (SMI), provided evaluation and treatment to individuals mandated to a state hospital forensic unit, and served as the Director of Mental Health at the Allegheny County Jail.
Focus
Dr. Edwards is the only licensed psychologist in Pennsylvania with eight years of foundational academic training in forensic psychology. As such, she opened a private practice in downtown Pittsburgh to serve the local community and beyond. Having been academically trained in law and psychology, she is able to competently provide psycho-legal services to Pennsylvanians.
Dr. Edwards has provided expert services, opinions, and testimony across the Commonwealth including Adams, Allegheny, Butler, Beaver, Clarion, Erie, Indiana, Lancaster, Mercer, Washington, and Westmoreland counties. Dr. Edwards has been qualified as an expert in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Florida, and Federal courts.
Samantha Etzi, LSW
Samantha Etzi is a Licensed Social Worker in Pittsburgh. She has experience working with juveniles, adults, and families whom interact with the court systems. She is a recent graduate of the Master of Social Work program at The University of Pittsburgh. Samantha has extensive knowledge and experience in conducting biopsychosocial assessments for individuals in Family and Criminal Court. She has expanded upon her academic and clinical training with various internships with government agencies, such as the Federal Public Defender, Allegheny County Juvenile Probation, and Allegheny County Court Records Civil Division.
Experience
Samantha is licensed to provide mental health evaluations to the Juvenile Court regarding recommendations for treatment and placement options for youth offenders. Her prior experience in Juvenile Probation has allowed her to have individual interactions with juveniles, while learning about the available rehabilitative options in Western Pennsylvania. Samantha has experience in therapy, as well as an understanding of the role of mental health experts in the court system.
Services
Samantha is also trained to provide co-parenting counseling in individualized and group settings. Samantha has aided in research and composition of a parenting skills training course, as she is aware of frequent daily tasks that parents encounter every day. Additionally, she is aware of the common miscommunications and disagreements co-parents confront during and after separation in order to best provide for their child(ren). She has experience in conflict resolution and familial communication.