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.

Publications

Ms. Hey co-authored The link between Borderline Personality Disorder and Homicidal Behavior. As a follow up to that article, she again co-authored Part Two: Borderline Personality Disorder: Its Use in Mitigation. She co-presented with Dr. Atkins on the topic of narcoanalytic interviews and their current roles in both the psychological and legal arenas at the American College of Forensic Psychology’s 30th Annual Symposium in 2014 in San Diego.