Trusted psychology expert sex abuse, suicide, IMEs

Specialties & Experience of this Expert Witness

Additional Information

Amanda M. Stylianou, Ph.D., LCSW is a nationally recognized psychology and mental health expert with more than 19 years of clinical, leadership, and research experience working with survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and individuals impacted by severe mental illness, self-harm, and suicide. She is currently the Chief Executive Officer of HEAL Trafficking, a national survivor-centered organization dedicated to advancing public health responses to human trafficking through training, policy, research, and survivor leadership. She brings a rare combination of front-line clinical practice, executive leadership, and federally funded research to her expert witness work. Dr. Stylianou previously served as Associate Vice President at Safe Horizon, the nation’s largest victim services organization, where she oversaw and supported services for survivors of crime, violence, and sexual assault across all five boroughs of New York City. Her work has required deep expertise in trauma, coercive control, victim behavior, delayed disclosure, credibility issues, and the long-term psychological impact of abuse. In addition to her practice experience, Dr. Stylianou was Co–Principal Investigator on the Coordinated Community Responses for Victims of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault research project, funded by the National Institute of Justice Violence Against Women Research Consortium. She also served on the Advisory Board for the Phased Evaluation of VictimConnect, the Office for Victims of Crime–funded, technology-based national resource center, in collaboration with the Urban Institute. Dr. Stylianou has published extensively in leading peer-reviewed journals, including Trauma, Violence, & Abuse; Journal of Interpersonal Violence; Violence and Victims; and Violence Against Women. Her scholarship is routinely relied upon by clinicians, policymakers, and courts to understand trauma responses, victim behavior, and systems-level failures in care. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Colorado and holds a master’s and doctoral degree in social work from Rutgers University. She maintains active clinical practice treating adolescents and adults with depression, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, self-harm behaviors, suicidal ideation, and prior suicide attempts. Dr. Stylianou has held faculty appointments at Rutgers University, the University of Southern California, and Yeshiva University, and served as volunteer faculty with the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Department of Psychiatry. She has also served as Director of Quality Improvement at Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care and Vice President of Mental Health Services at Easterseals New Jersey, roles that required direct oversight of clinical standards, risk management, documentation practices, and suicide prevention protocols. She is deeply familiar with the standard of care for mental health providers and programs including inpatient, residential, partial hospital, intensive outpatient, and outpatient. Dr. Stylianou has never been disqualified as an expert and is known for clear, credible, and well-supported opinions grounded in clinical practice, empirical research, and professional standards.