Staff-Therapists:
Daniel MacPhail, Ed.D.
I am a Licensed Psychologist Health Provider and Designated Forensic Psychologist in Massachusetts. At WFCS and in private practice, I work with families, couples, adult individuals and children, and prefer to work with children in family therapy. I see school age through aging senior patients.
I also perform court ordered examinations of adults and children for defense attorneys for competency to stand trial and criminal responsibility, and provide second opinion evaluations for psychiatrically hospitalized patients.
Therapy Model:
I have extensive training in family therapy and view the person coming for help as part of a family system. Although a family member’s behavior or symptoms may be the basis for coming to therapy, as a general principle, I focus my attention more broadly on helping family members improve the way they relate to one another. I find that the therapeutic benefits decrease time spent in therapy and increase the likelihood of lasting behavioral change when therapy ends.
I value the importance of how early experience can influence current difficulties and use a variety of methods that help individuals overcome their past, including how learning from previous role models have had positive and negative influences on how we view ourselves and conduct our lives in the present.
Consulting:
I consult for schools about children with special needs and worked consistently for three years as a staff consultant for Concord Area Special Education in Boxborough, MA. I also provide consulting services to attorneys about criminal defendants and psychiatric patients suffering from major mental illness or mental retardation.
Previous Training/Experience:
In 1986, I completed my doctorate at Boston University with an emphasis in clinical and counseling psychology. I conducted pre- and postdoctoral research at Harvard University examining the relationship between emotional/behavioral disturbances and the development of normal social and moral reasoning. While working in two prisons in Concord, MA, I conducted research groups with adult male inmates to facilitate increased moral reasoning and personal development, and published the results in Criminal Justice and Behavior.
I had extensive training and supervision through the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, Law and Psychiatry Program and became a Designated Forensic Psychologist in 1990. After working over eight years in two Concord prisons, I worked for 22 additional years as the Director of Waltham District Court Clinic and served numerous district/superior courts performing court ordered examinations of criminal defendants and responding to petitions for civil commitments of mentally ill and substance abusing family members. Today, I conduct evaluations privately for defense attorneys.
Return to Staff and Therapist list click here.
Phone: (978) 658-9889
Fax: (978) 658-5695
Contact us at: wilfamilycounsel@aol.com
