Expertise You Can Trust When You Need It Most

A medico-legal psychiatrist is a medical specialist who provides psychiatric assessments and reports for legal purposes. These assessments help determine the impact of mental health conditions on legal cases, including personal injury claims, family disputes, criminal matters, and historical abuse cases. At MindSense Psychiatry, our psychiatrists approach every assessment with expertise, sensitivity, and an understanding of the legal complexities involved.

MindSense Psychiatry provides medico-legal psychiatric assessments for individuals involved in legal proceedings, including independent psychiatric assessments for insurance claims, compensation disputes, and forensic evaluations. We also offer online psychiatric assessments through secure telehealth platforms, ensuring accessibility for clients unable to attend in person. Additionally, our specialists provide psychiatric reports for courts, delivering expert analysis on mental health conditions and their relevance to legal cases. Our psychiatry expert witness services support legal professionals by offering independent, evidence-based opinions in court. For those affected by trauma, we also conduct assessments for childhood trauma, focusing on historical abuse cases with professionalism and compassion.

A medico-legal report is essential when a legal case requires an expert psychiatric opinion. These reports are commonly needed in personal injury cases, workplace compensation claims, criminal trials, family court matters, and cases of historical, institutional, and sexual abuse. Our psychiatrists provide independent, evidence-based assessments to support legal professionals, insurers, and individuals navigating complex legal processes.

MindSense Psychiatry is a trusted provider of medico-legal psychiatry services across Australia. Our team of experts delivers independent, trauma-informed psychiatric assessments that are legally robust and professionally conducted. We ensure that each psychiatrist medico-legal report is clear, well-documented, and tailored to the unique legal and medical complexities of every case. With a nationwide network of specialists, we provide accessible, high-quality assessments that support individuals, legal professionals, and insurers.

Trauma-informed care is an approach that acknowledges the widespread impact of trauma and prioritizes psychological safety in every interaction. It involves recognizing the signs and symptoms of trauma, avoiding re-traumatization, and actively reducing harm through empathy, transparency, and empowerment.

Unlike traditional IMEs, trauma-informed IMEs are centered on the lived experience of the person being assessed. They are designed to work to reduce anxiety, promote agency, and support survivor dignity while still delivering clear, defensible clinical opinions.

They help to reduce harm and re-traumatization of survivors thereby improving their active participation in the legal process. They help to improve the accuracy and credibility of evidence by promoting survivors to engage openly in the legal process, which leads to more accurate, comprehensive assessments - and ultimately fairer outcomes.

Safety: Emotional and physical safety are foundational. We create spaces - whether virtual or in-person - where survivors feel secure and supported.

Trustworthiness and Transparency: We clearly explain every step of our assessment process, reducing anxiety and fostering trust.
Peer Support and Collaboration: We welcome the involvement of support persons and ensure our approach feels collaborative, not hierarchical.
Empowerment and Choice: Trauma can erode a person’s sense of control. We respect autonomy by offering choices and honouring individual preferences.
Cultural, Historical, and Gender Awareness: We recognize how trauma is shaped by systemic and cultural factors and tailor our approach accordingly.

No. While survivors of abuse often suffer from psychological injuries related to the abuse and trauma endured trauma itself can case a host of other neurobiological and physical injuries as well. In addition to mental health assessments survivors may need to be assessed by gastroenterologists, paediatricians, plastic and reconstructive surgeons, urologists, vocational
evaluators, occupational therapists, and more.