Our psychology team
Led by Dr. Gretza M. Piñeiro-Hernández, Psy.D.
Head of Psychology
A doctoral-level psychologist trained at Carlos Albizu University, Dr. Piñeiro-Hernández brings more than 25 years of experience in complex trauma, domestic violence, sexual abuse, forensic assessment and risk evaluation. She leads the psychologists who conduct our evaluations.
Every clinician here works to one standard, and she sets it: structured, trauma-informed methods aligned with the American Psychological Association and the American Psychology-Law Society — the discipline that separates a clinical opinion an adjudicator can rely on from one they cannot.
No evaluation leaves this practice without Dr. Piñeiro-Hernández reviewing it first.
Whoever conducts the interview, she reads the finished evaluation before it is issued.
Credentials
DoctoratePsy.D., Carlos Albizu University
Experience25+ years
MethodsAPA and AP-LS aligned
LanguagesEnglish and Spanish
Areas of assessment
Every evaluation is scoped to the case in front of it. Most cover two or three of these. None cover all of them.
Trauma and PTSD
Exposure to violence or persecution, and its lasting clinical effects.
Anxiety and depression
Severity, course, and how the condition presents day to day.
Functional impairment
How symptoms affect work, study, parenting and self-care — often the point a petition turns on.
Hardship and family separation
How separation or relocation would affect a spouse, child or parent.
Abuse and coercive control
Where the case involves it, as VAWA, U and T petitions typically do.
Cognitive and memory difficulties
Including impairment relevant to an N-648 disability waiver.
The standard every evaluation is held to
Whichever of our psychologists conducts it, the method is the same — and the method is the reason the conclusion holds.
01
Structured clinical interview
Conducted by telehealth in the client’s own language, following a defined protocol rather than an open conversation.
02
Trauma-informed throughout
Pacing and questioning designed so that recounting events does not itself cause harm, and so that distress is not mistaken for inconsistency.
03
Written to APA and AP-LS standards
Findings documented so another qualified psychologist could follow the reasoning from observation to conclusion.
04
Scoped to the petition
An asylum evaluation and a hardship evaluation ask different questions. Each answers the one in front of it.
Considering an evaluation for a case?
We are glad to talk it through.