Credits

TAP Developer and On-line Course Developer Bio

Nicole Taylor Kletzka, PhD, is a Consulting Forensic Examiner for the state of Michigan who is currently conducting assessments of competency to stand trial and legal insanity.  She specializes in children and adolescent assessment and treatment, particularly with forensic and traumatized populations.  Dr. Kletzka’s work focuses on identifying the best treatments available for a child given his/her unique history and symptom presentation.  Prior to her work in Michigan, Dr. Kletzka was employed at the Chadwick Center for Children and Families, at Rady Children’s Hospital and Health Center in San Diego, California.  There she managed the Treatment Outcome Office and later served as project manager for the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) Grant funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA).  In these positions, she spent several years refining and coordinating Chadwick’s assessment-based treatment program and was one of the primary authors of Assessment-Based Treatment for Traumatized Children: A Trauma Assessment Pathway Model (TAP). 

In addition to extensive experience with assessments while managing the Treatment Outcome Office at the Chadwick center, Dr. Kletzka’s assessment experience includes comprehensive psychological evaluations of managers, child custody evaluations, assessment of adolescent sexual offenders, and assessing emergency room clientele for appropriateness for hospital admission.  She received her doctorate in clinical psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant University in San Diego.  Dr. Kletzka has published and presented in multiple venues on psychological assessment, treatment outcomes, treatment pathways, and other related topics.  She is currently a professor at National University and is a former Associate Professor for the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University.