Sara McLeod, Ph.D.

Dr. Sara McLeod, Ph.D. is a psychologist with the Law and Psychiatry Service of the Massachusetts General Hospital and holds an appointment at Harvard Medical School. She has extensive experience in child sexual abuse and provides expert witness testimony in civil and criminal cases and conducts Guardian ad litem evaluations for the probate courts, specializing in the evaluation of sexual abuse allegations that emerge in the context of high-conflict divorce. She lectures in the Law and Psychiatry Service’s seminar series and supervises post-doctoral fellows.

Prior to joining the Law and Psychiatry Service, Dr. McLeod was the senior psychologist on the Sexual Abuse Treatment Team (SATT) at The Children’s Hospital, Boston, where she conducted clinical sexual abuse evaluations, and provided trauma-focused psychotherapy to children and psychotherapy/parent guidance to parents and other caregivers. She taught in the weekly didactic seminar offered to trainees and to hospital staff, supervised pre-doctoral psychology interns and provided consultation to hospital staff and to the community at large. She served as a liaison between the Children’s Hospital and the Suffolk County Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) where she provided ongoing consultation to SAIN Teams and to staff at the CAC and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. She served on the committee that developed the model to be used for conducting sexual abuse evaluations under the auspices of the Suffolk County CAC, and also served on the Cardinal’s Commission for the Protection of Children (March – October, 2002).

Dr. McLeod also maintains a private practice in Wellesley, Massachusetts where she conducts clinical sexual abuse evaluations, provides therapy and/or consultation to children and adults, many of whom have histories of sexual abuse or are involved in high-conflict divorce situations. She consults to other mental health providers, to schools and to attorneys regarding sexual abuse issues, and has presented at state and regional conferences. She is a licensed psychologist and health service provider in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. (B.A.: Yale College; Ed.M.: Harvard Graduate School of Education; Ph.D.: Boston College).