Phyllis Gould, LCSW, CADC, SAP
Credentials and Education
Phyllis has a B.A. in French from Brown University and a Masters Degree in Social Work from the University of Chicago, as well as a special certificate in substance abuse studies from Harold Washington College in Chicago. She is multilingual and has pursued language and cultural studies at the University of Navarra in Spain, the Institut d’Etudes Francaises in LaRochelle, France; and the following universities in Poland: the Catholic University of Lublin, the Nicholas Copernicus University in Torun, and the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Certified Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Counselor, and Substance Abuse Professional.
Practice Experience
Phyllis has been in practice since 1982. She provides both forensic and clinical services. On the clinical side, she provides psychotherapy for all kinds of issues to individuals, couples, families, adults, and children. Her clinical specialties include: child and adolescent therapy (all ages); chemical dependency treatment (Phyllis is recognized as a Substance Abuse Professional by the U.S. Department of Transportation and often sees clients for evaluation who have tested positive for drugs and alcohol in the workplace); and culturally focused services. Phyllis is fluent in Spanish, Polish, and French and enjoys working with clients from many different cultures. Services are provided in the languages listed. She has extensive experience working with Hispanic and Polish clients.
Phyllis also devotes a large portion of her practice to forensic work. She performs mental health evaluations and provides expert witness testimony in a variety of legal contexts. She has a strong reputation working with immigration attorneys around issues such as proving extreme hardship in deportation, asylum, VAWA, Adam Walsh, waivers, u visas and substantiation of good faith marriage. And with criminal law attorneys to perform sentence mitigation and diminished capacity evaluations. Phyllis has received positive feedback from immigration attorneys in Chicago and nationwide.
Phyllis has also developed good working relationships with family law attorneys and performs 604-B/5 custody evaluations, 215 mental health evaluations and substance abuse evaluations.
Other interests include Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, emotional issues in personal injury matters, and consulting to attorneys in malpractice cases involving other mental health professionals. Phyllis is willing to travel nationwide to testify and perform forensic mental health evaluations. For clients who are not able to attend an in-person interview, interviews can be conducted by phone and Skype. Phyllis also offers telephone testimony for Immigration hearings. Sample reports and references are available to attorneys upon request.
Memberships
Phyllis is a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers and the National Association of Social Workers.
Biographical
Phyllis is married and the mother of two children, both of whom were adopted from Mexico.