The Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) has appointed neuropsychologist Dr Marlon Simpson as its new director of therapeutic services and psychosocial support. CPFSA CEO Laurette Adams-Thomas said Simpson’s leadership and training will help coordinate and expand psychosocial care for children in state care.
“Children in our care will benefit from more precise assessment, evidence-based interventions and strengthened clinical oversight,” Adams-Thomas said.
She added that a key goal of appointing Dr Simpson as the director of therapeutic services and psychosocial support is to streamline psychological services for children and extend early support to families so fewer children require placement in state care.
Simpson will oversee therapeutic interventions across the agency’s programmes, including the Smiles Mobile Unit, residential therapeutic facilities, therapeutic centres and places of safety and the Living In Family Environments (LIFE) programme. He will also coordinate counselling, psychosocial, psychoeducational, psychological and psychiatric support across CPFSA regions.
As a neuropsychologist, Dr Simpson can conduct in-depth assessments and diagnoses of cognitive, emotional and behavioural problems arising from neurological conditions, developmental disorders or brain injuries. He will design treatment plans to improve children’s functioning.
His plans include expanding services such as play and music therapy, creating specialised spaces like calm and de-escalation rooms for children with autism spectrum disorder, and promoting greater awareness of mental health challenges among families and caregivers.
“We want to go beyond simply labelling children as having ‘behavioural issues’,” Dr Simpson said. “The real task is to identify what underlies those behaviours – whether neurological, developmental or psychosocial factors – and then create the right spaces and interventions to meet those needs.”
The CPFSA works with children who have severe behavioural challenges, suicidal tendencies, autism, ADHD, and other intellectual or neurological developmental challenges.
Dr Simpson, whose master’s thesis focused on a psychosocial intervention to boost resilience among adolescents in state care, will enable the CPFSA to better integrate the varied skill sets of its psychosocial teams, to deliver timely, multidisciplinary care and to expand community-centred supports that address trauma before it leads to separation.
He holds a doctorate in psychology (health and neuropsychology) and has worked as senior clinical psychologist at Bellevue Hospital, clinical psychologist at the National Police College of the Caribbean, and associate clinical psychologist at CALM International and the McCam Child Care Development Centre. He has also lectured at the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean and The University of the West Indies, Mona.
– JIS