Joanna Clarke

Whilst registered as a Practitioner Psychologist (PYL25475):

1. On or around 18 December 2018, you completed an inadequate psychological assessment report for Service User A whilst acting as an Expert Witness in care proceedings, in that you:

a. Did not develop and/or record a full psychological formulation based on the service user’s history and/or presentation;

b. Included recommendations for therapeutic intervention which were inappropriate;

c. Did not adequately answer the questions that you were instructed to consider;

d. Did not:
i. provide adequate detail in relation to how, when and where information was collected;
ii. record the duration or location of appointments and who was present;
iii. record detail of a discussion with the Foster Carer;
iv. record the age of the youngest child;
v. record how the pregnancy and birth of the child had been;

e. Did not include sufficient detail in relation to Service User A’s developmental and/or historic risk factors;

f. Did not assess and/or reference an assessment of the suitability of using the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-IV) measure for Service User A;

g. did not adequately administer and/or interpret the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-IV);

h. Did not sufficiently explore and/or record exploring Service User A’s:
i. potential learning difficulties;
ii. drug use while she was pregnant;
iii. involvement in domestically abusive relationships;

i. Placed over-reliance on Service User A’s self-report and did not evidence analysis of static or dynamic risk factors;

j. Did not conduct and/or record an adequate assessment of the children.

2. You did not demonstrate and/or record the qualifications, training and/or experience required to:
a. Undertake an assessment and provide a clinical opinion in respect of Service User A and/or;

b. Act as an expert in care proceedings.

3. On or around 18 December 2018, you incorrectly referred to your qualification as a MA Psychology (Applied) in your CV accompanying your psychological assessment report for Service User A when your qualification is a Masters in Organisational Psychology.

4. On or around 15 February 2019, you completed an inadequate Psychological assessment report for Parents A and B whilst acting as an Expert Witness in care proceedings, in that you:
a. Did not include sufficient detail in relation to Parent A and/or B’s developmental and/or relationship histories;

b. Did not develop and/or record a full psychological formulation in relation to Parent A and/or Parent B;

c. diagnosed Parent B with Alcohol Use Disorder without reference to diagnostic criteria;

d. Did not record consideration of the parent’s reading age when completing the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory;

e. demonstrated an unacceptable level of negativity in relation to Parent A;

f. Did not:
i. Record the duration or location of appointments;
ii. Record who was present at appointments;
iii. Identify and/or correct significant typographical errors relating to dates of the appointments;
iv. Record how old the child was at the time of the assessment;
v. Record the age and/or ethnicity of Parents A and B
vi. Record the developmental stage at significant life events of Parents A and B;
vii. Record how the pregnancy and birth of the child had been and/or whether Parent B was still recovering;
viii. Record whether Parents A and B were interviewed or observed together at any time;
ix. Record whether Parents A and B whether formally observed with their child, either alone, together and/or in the presence of residential staff;
x. Seek, or record attempts to seek, views from other professionals involved with the family.

g. Did not spend adequate time with the parents and/or in liaison with other professionals;

h. Did not identify any potential threat to validity, or missed opportunity to strengthen, the opinion in your report where information was not provided to you, such as medical records;

i. Did not assess and/or reference an assessment of the suitability of using the MCMI-IV measure for Parent A;

j. Did not provide an adequate description of the MCMI-IV measure in that you only presented the Clinical and Severe Clinical subscale results and excluded Personality Patterns and Severe Personality Pathology;

k. Did not demonstrate adequate competence in administering and interpreting clinical psychometric instruments;

l. Did not adequately answer the questions that you were instructed to consider in that you:
i. Presented limited supporting evidence and/or analysis
ii. Did not present a range of possible alternative opinions, stating why you favoured one over others.

5. On or around 25 February 2019, you completed an addendum report in respect of Parents A and B which was inadequate, in that you;
a. Focused only on the issue of Parent A’s honesty;

b. Did not comment on all of the additional documents provided to you;

c. Did not adequately answer the questions that you were instructed to consider in that you did not set out how you considered the ‘US National Study’ you cited was relevant to Parent B.

6. You did not demonstrate and/or record the qualifications, training or experience required to act as an expert in the care proceedings.

7. You incorrectly referred to your qualification as a MA Psychology (Applied) when your qualification is a Masters in Organisational Psychology in:
a. The Psychological assessment report for Parents A and B dated 15 February 2019;

b. The addendum assessment report for Parents A and B dated 25 February 2019 and;

c. your accompanying CV to your reports.

8. In respect of Particulars 1, 2, 4, 5 and/or 6 you have acted outside the scope of your practice.

9. Your conduct in relation to Particular 3 and/or 7 above was dishonest.

10. The matters set out in Particulars 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and/or 9 above constitute misconduct and/or lack of competence.

11. By reason of the matters set out above, your misconduct your fitness to practise is impaired.