Alison L. Hey, MA

Ms. Hey graduated from Roger Williams University in 2005 with her Bachelors of Science degree in both Psychology and Environmental Science. She completed her undergraduate internship with Rhode Island’s Department of Correction Probation and Parole, specifically the sex offenders unit. Her responsibilities included home visits, application processing and leading group therapy. Following her graduation, she began working for Dr. Atkins while pursuing her Masters degree. In February of 2009, she graduated from John Jay College of Criminal Justice with her Masters Degree in Forensic Psychology. She wrote her master’s thesis on intimate partner femicide with a concentration on perpetrator and victim characteristics. Her thesis was presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology in Atlanta, Georgia.

Following her graduation, she has continued to work with Dr. Atkins as a psychological associate and eventually took over the responsibility of managing his practice. As a psychological associate, she conducts psychological testing, forensic and collateral interviews, record reviews and performs case-related literature reviews and research. For the past decade, she has worked closely with Dr. Atkins in developing mitigation for death penalty cases. In 2017, she began working as an independent death penalty mitigation specialist.

Dr. Atkins recently prepared an amicus brief, and testified on the constitutionality of, polygraphing paroled sex offenders. He has been an adjunct clinical assistant professor at Widener University and has provided clinical supervision for the doctoral internship programs at both Hahnemann and Drexel Universities. He has been a consultant to municipal, state and federal agencies and legislative bodies on the issue of substance abuse and rehabilitation. Dr. Atkins has published articles and presented CLE workshops on topics related to the insanity defense, neonaticide, borderline personality disorder, sentencing and the collaboration of clinicians and attorneys regarding the issue of professional boundary violations. For the past two decades, he has chaired the American College of Forensic Psychology’s Forensic Skills panel of attorneys and forensic psychologists as they address professional and ethical issues confronting forensic mental health practitioners.