The Healing Willow, a trauma-informed social work practice founded by Kellsey Forest, LICSW, today announced a 2026 initiative focused on expanding education, consultation, and interdisciplinary support for professionals working with families affected by coercive control, domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, and complex family court dynamics. The initiative reflects growing demand for practical, evidence-informed guidance that helps clinicians, attorneys, advocates, agencies, and child-serving systems better recognize trauma patterns and make informed decisions in cases involving children and families.
The announcement builds on The Healing Willow’s work across psychotherapy, forensic consultation, expert witness services, parent coordination, mediation, professional training, and advocacy. Forest, a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker and doctoral student at Simmons University, established the practice to address the gap between trauma research and the real-world decisions made in therapy rooms, legal settings, and community systems.
Bridging Clinical Practice and Family Law
The Healing Willow’s expanded focus comes at a time when courts, mental health providers, and community organizations are increasingly examining how trauma affects parenting, child development, safety, and decision-making. In family court and child-serving systems, cases involving coercive control or post-separation abuse often require professionals to look beyond isolated events and consider broader patterns of behavior over time.
“Trauma does not exist in isolation, and neither should the way we respond to it,” said Forest. “When professionals view each case through only one lens, important context can be missed. The goal of this work is to help different systems communicate more clearly and respond with a stronger understanding of trauma, safety, and the needs of children.”
The Healing Willow’s services are designed to support both individuals and professionals. Clinical services may include individual therapy for parents, caregivers, and young adults, as well as co-parenting support, parent-child contact work, and trauma-informed approaches such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, commonly known as EMDR, trauma-sensitive yoga, and ego-state therapies, including Internal Family Systems informed work.
Understanding Patterns, Not Isolated Incidents
A central part of the initiative is education around coercive control, a pattern of behavior that can include intimidation, isolation, monitoring, manipulation, threats, financial restriction, and other tactics that limit another person’s autonomy. While public understanding of domestic violence has increased, coercive control and post-separation abuse may still be difficult to identify when professionals focus on single incidents rather than cumulative patterns.
“When we understand the pattern instead of just the incident, we make better decisions for children and families,” Forest said. “That shift matters because the effects of trauma often show up in attachment, communication, emotional regulation, and the way people participate in systems that are already stressful.”
The Healing Willow’s consultation and training work addresses these issues by translating research into practical frameworks. Areas of focus include trauma and child development, family court dynamics, child abuse and neglect, domestic violence, reunification considerations, professional collaboration, and the ways legal and clinical systems can interpret behavior differently. The practice also provides consultation for attorneys, clinicians, agencies, and organizations seeking a trauma-informed perspective in complex family matters.
Practical Tools for Professionals
The Healing Willow’s 2026 education and consultation initiative emphasizes applied learning for professionals whose decisions can affect safety, placement, treatment planning, and family relationships. Training and consultations are structured to help participants understand terminology, identify common misconceptions, and apply evidence-informed concepts in daily practice without oversimplifying complex cases.
Forest’s professional background includes clinical experience, scholarly contribution, media consultation, and presentations for academic and professional audiences. Her ongoing doctoral studies focus on advocacy and reform related to family courts, with attention to how systems respond to coercive control, trauma, and child well-being. That academic work informs the practice’s larger mission of making research usable for professionals who may not have time to interpret specialized literature while managing demanding caseloads.
“Research has little impact if it never reaches the people making decisions every day,” Forest said. “My goal is to make complex topics practical, understandable, and useful.”
The Healing Willow also reflects Forest’s commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration. The practice is connected to professional communities that include the National Association of Social Workers, the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation, the EMDR International Association, and Yoga Alliance.
A Trauma-Informed Framework for Complex Family Systems
The Healing Willow’s approach is grounded in the recognition that families affected by trauma often interact with multiple systems at once. A parent or caregiver may be involved in therapy, court proceedings, child protection concerns, education systems, advocacy services, or law enforcement processes. Each system may have its own language, timeline, and expectations, which can create confusion when trauma responses are misunderstood.
By combining clinical social work, forensic consultation, professional education, and advocacy, The Healing Willow seeks to support more informed conversations among professionals. The practice does not frame trauma-informed care as a single technique. Instead, it presents trauma-informed practice as a way of understanding context, power dynamics, child development, safety, and the long-term effects of stress on relationships and decision-making.
The initiative also supports Forest’s broader goal of building long-term credibility through education rather than promotional visibility.
Award Highlights Leadership in Trauma Informed Family Care
The Healing Willow has been recognized as the Best Trauma Informed Family Court Practice in Massachusetts of 2026 by Best of Best Review, reflecting the practice’s commitment to evidence informed, trauma informed care for families navigating complex legal and clinical challenges.
About The Healing Willow
The Healing Willow is a trauma-informed social work practice founded by Kellsey Forest, LICSW. The practice provides psychotherapy, expert witness services, forensic consultation, parent coordination, mediation, professional training, and advocacy for individuals, families, legal professionals, agencies, and organizations. Its work focuses on trauma, coercive control, domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, family court dynamics, and child well-being. The Healing Willow integrates clinical experience, current research, and interdisciplinary collaboration to help professionals and families better understand complex trauma-related issues and support safer, more informed outcomes.
More information about services, consultation, and speaking engagements is available through The Healing Willow, where professionals and community members can learn about the practice’s work with trauma, coercive control, family court dynamics, and child-centered systems. Media and professional inquiries may be directed to kellsey@thehealingwillow.org