Meet Victoria
Victoria Hall is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and multi-credentialed forensic mental health specialist with national board certifications in forensic mental health evaluation, psychometrics, custody evaluation, parent coordination, and forensic consulting. She has obtained Diplomate status through the National Board of Forensic Evaluators (NBFE), recognizing advanced education, training, and demonstrated competency in forensic mental health practice. Victoria is Level C qualified in psychological testing, permitting the administration, scoring, and interpretation of advanced psychological assessment instruments within her professional scope. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Fielding Graduate University and is a SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions) Provider trained through the Yale Child Study Center. Victoria is also a member of the New Jersey Chapter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (NJ-AFCC). Her work integrates advanced clinical expertise with specialized forensic training in trauma, domestic violence, child development, and high-conflict family systems.
Victoria works at the intersection of psychology, family dynamics, and the legal system. Through her coaching practice, she provides a warm, structured, and trauma-informed environment where parents, children, and adolescents can slow down, feel understood, and develop practical strategies for lasting change. She specializes in helping families navigate intense emotions, parent-child contact problems, anxiety, anger, trauma, and high-conflict relationships, restoring stability, connection, and confidence within the family system. Drawing from evidence-based approaches, including the SPACE model, she helps caregivers reduce accommodation, strengthen resilience, and respond to challenging behaviors with confidence and consistency.
In her forensic practice, Victoria serves as a specialized forensic mental health consultant and evaluator in high-conflict domestic relations litigation. She conducts forensic evaluations, behavioral analyses, and case consultations involving complex custody disputes, allegations of abuse, family violence, coercive control, parent-child contact problems, psychological functioning, and the impact of trauma on family systems. Her opinions are grounded in accepted forensic methodology, evidence-based practice, and objective behavioral analysis.
In addition to conducting independent evaluations, Victoria provides comprehensive forensic consultation to attorneys by critically reviewing opposing experts' custody evaluations, psychological evaluations, clinical opinions, and testing data. She analyzes adherence to professional standards, the reliability of methodologies, interpretation of psychological findings, integration of collateral evidence, and the logical consistency of expert opinions. Her reviews identify methodological weaknesses, unsupported conclusions, departures from accepted forensic practice, and issues affecting the reliability and admissibility of psychological evidence.
Victoria also assists attorneys with case development, expert witness preparation, deposition strategy, cross-examination of opposing experts, and the interpretation of complex psychological evidence. She translates sophisticated clinical and forensic concepts into clear, evidence-informed analyses that support strategic legal decision-making while maintaining the objectivity and ethical standards expected of forensic mental health professionals.
With more than a decade of clinical experience and advanced forensic training, Victoria is committed to bringing scientific rigor, psychological insight, and practical clarity to cases where mental health, family dynamics, and the law intersect.
The Evolution of Practice
Pathways Coaching & Consulting was built upon years of clinical experience, executive leadership, and a growing recognition that many of the most complex family conflicts cannot be resolved through therapy alone. As increasing numbers of families entered the legal system with allegations of domestic violence, coercive control, psychological trauma, and high-conflict parenting disputes, it became evident that objective forensic analysis was often as essential as clinical intervention.
What began as a traditional counseling practice evolved into a specialized forensic mental health and consulting practice serving attorneys, courts, and families navigating complex legal matters. Rather than moving away from clinical work, the practice expanded upon that foundation by applying psychological science within a forensic framework where opinions must remain objective, evidence-based, methodologically sound, and capable of withstanding legal scrutiny.
Today, Pathways Coaching & Consulting offers two complementary areas of service. The practice provides independent forensic mental health evaluations, child custody evaluations, litigation consulting, behavioral analysis, psychometric consultation, expert case review, and parent coordination in high-conflict domestic relations matters. It also provides evidence-based, trauma-informed coaching and clinical services for parents, children, adolescents, and families navigating anxiety, family conflict, parent-child contact problems, and significant life transitions. Although each service fulfills a distinct role, both are grounded in scientific integrity, objective reasoning, and a commitment to improving outcomes for children and families.
The practice is further distinguished by advanced forensic training and nationally recognized credentials through the National Board of Forensic Evaluators (NBFE). Victoria Hall holds board certifications as a Certified Forensic Mental Health Evaluator (CFMHE), Certified Child Custody Evaluator (CCCE), Certified Psychometrist, and Diplomate of the National Board of Forensic Evaluators.
The continued evolution of the practice has been shaped through advanced forensic training under Norman Hoffman, founder of the National Board of Forensic Evaluators and developer of the Hoffman Method. This mentorship refined the analytical framework that guides every forensic consultation and evaluation, emphasizing psychometric integrity, methodological rigor, objective reasoning, and opinions capable of withstanding scrutiny under both the Daubert and Frye standards. Additional advanced training in domestic violence, child and adolescent trauma, anger management, family trauma, psychometrics, and high-conflict family systems has further strengthened the practice's ability to address the complex psychological issues frequently encountered in litigation.
Victoria also holds specialized certifications as a Certified Domestic Violence Specialist (CDVS), Certified Anger Management Specialist (CAMS), Certified Family Trauma Professional (CFTP), Certified Parent Training Specialist (CPTS), and Dual Certified Child and Adolescent Trauma Professional (CATP).
Although the scope of the practice has expanded considerably over time, its mission has remained unchanged: to improve outcomes for children and families through objective psychological analysis, scientific integrity, and evidence-based practice. Whether consulting with attorneys, assisting the courts, or coaching families through high-conflict transitions, Pathways Coaching & Consulting is committed to providing clarity where emotions run high, supporting informed decision-making, and helping even the most challenging cases move toward child-centered, durable resolutions.
Core Values
1. Methodological Precision & Scientific Rigor: I believe that forensic work is only as good as the science behind it. This practice rejects sloppy clinical assumptions masquerading as forensic insight. Every evaluation, report review, and consultation we deliver is rooted in peer-reviewed behavioral science, strict psychometric standards, and established legal admissibility frameworks like Daubert/Frye. I value disciplined reasoning and objective data over subjective impressions.
2. Unyielding Objectivity & Neutrality: In the courtroom and during litigation consultation, accuracy is our highest priority. We maintain strict boundaries of evaluator neutrality. Our role is not to "soften" or distort the psychological narrative; it is to clarify it, uncover methodological errors, and expose flaws in opposing evaluations. Attorneys rely on our practice because we value truth and structural integrity above all else.
3. Insulating Children from the Fallout of Conflict: High-conflict family dynamics can place an immense, unfair burden on child development. Whether we are consulting on a complex custody dispute or reviewing a parenting plan, our underlying North Star is the best interest and psychological safety of the child. I favor strategies and interventions—like AFCC-aligned methodologies and the SPACE framework—that actively protect children from the crossfire of parental litigation.
4. Empathetic, Practical Empowerment for Families: I understand that behind every legal case number is a human being navigating an exhausting, highly vulnerable life transition. While our forensic assessments are strictly objective, our coaching side is deeply supportive. We value the human element of this work, providing parents with a grounded, non-judgmental space to learn strategic co-parenting tools, de-escalate crisis, and build long-term stability for their post-litigation future.
Parent-Child Contact Problems
Services that address highly complex family dynamics where a child resists or refuses contact with one parent following a separation or divorce. Often referred to under the broader umbrella of resist-refuse dynamics, these specialized forensic and clinical services move away from simplistic labels to look at the family from a multi-factorial, systemic lens
Parent Reunification
Specialized, clinical interventions designed to repair and rebuild a severely ruptured relationship between a child and a "rejected" or "estranged" parent. These cases typically arise in high-conflict divorces or custody disputes where a child exhibits resist-refuse dynamics—strongly resisting or entirely refusing contact with one parent.
Life After Domestic Violence and Intimate Partner Violence
An empowering, forward-focused partnership designed for individuals who have safely exited abusive dynamics and are ready to reclaim their autonomy, voice, and future. Moving beyond the immediate crisis phase, this specialized coaching shifts the focus from survival to intentional rebuilding. Grounded in a trauma-informed framework, we partner with clients to navigate the unique post-separation challenges of coercive control, including post-separation legal abuse and complex co-parenting or parallel parenting structures.
Trauma-Informed Care
A forward-focused, strengths-based partnership that integrates an understanding of neurobiology and somatic stress responses without crossing into clinical psychotherapy. Rather than diagnosing or processing past trauma, this modality focuses on the "here and now"—helping clients identify current triggers, build self-regulation tools, and safely expand their window of tolerance.
Understanding Anger & Grief in Our Kids
Recognizes that a child’s behavioral outbursts, irritability, or resistance during major family transitions are often deep grief and loss masking themselves as anger. From a parent coaching perspective, our goal is to shift from reactive discipline to proactive leadership, helping parents look beneath the surface behavior to see a dysregulated nervous system seeking safety.
Child & Family Trauma
An active, systemic partnership designed to help families shift out of chronic survival mode and rebuild a shared sense of safety. Rather than treating a child in a clinical vacuum, this trauma-informed approach focuses on the entire family ecosystem, recognizing that a child's nervous system relies on the parental environment to heal and self-regulate.
Domestic Violence Education
Psychoeducational classes focus on accountability and behavioral change by deconstructing patterns of power, control, and non-physical abuse. Participants learn to recognize physiological triggers and utilize practical tools for emotional regulation and de-escalation to interrupt situational conflict before it escalates. The curriculum emphasizes dismantling cognitive distortions like minimizing or blaming, building a deep awareness of how abuse traumatizes partners and children, and establishing healthy, respectful relationship boundaries.
Anger Management Classes
Psychoeducational classes focus on immediate behavioral modification by teaching participants to recognize early physiological warning signs and cognitive triggers before reaching an emotional flashpoint. The curriculum emphasizes replacing aggressive escalation with assertive communication and emotional intelligence, while incorporating daily stress management and empathy-building tools to lower baseline tension and prevent future conflict.
SPACE Coaching
(Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions) is a parent-based program developed at the Yale Child Study Center to treat childhood anxiety and OCD by working exclusively with caregivers. Instead of changing the child, coaching guides parents through two core clinical components: increasing supportive communication and systematically reducing family accommodation.