Robert Griffith, MA, PsyD, ABAP
While in high school, Dr. Griffith attended a lecture by J. B. Rhine, a famous researcher who applied statistics to evaluate human behavior. During that period of time, he began taking college correspondence courses in criminology and law enforcement through Brigham Young University. Dr. Griffith changed his focus from criminalistics and criminal justice in 1980, when he began volunteering at a phone in crisis center. Shortly after this, he began working in the mental health field.
After moving to Michigan in the late 1970s, Dr. Griffith received his undergraduate degree from Justin Morrill Inter-College Program at Michigan State University and later his Master's Degree in counseling from Western Michigan University. He then studied psychoanalysis in the 1980s and had planned to train as an analyst, but this was deterred by a respected supervisor and analyst, Bert Karon, who recommended that he obtain his doctorate.
Dr. Griffith obtained his doctorate through the Chicago Campus of the Illinois School of Professional Psychology. Dr. Griffith has obtained training in mental health law through the New York Law School and participates in many continuing education credits annually.
As a master's level clinician, he worked in residential, jail and hospital settings in addition to working as an outpatient counselor. He has worked with people who have intellectual disabilities, severe and persisting mental illness. He has performed many risk assessments for public schools and college campuses. He has also worked as a volunteer with the Asylum Network providing psychological evaluations. He wrote a paper for a NGO on adolescent brain development to help deter the adolescent death penalty in Iran.
Dr. Griffith is a licensed psychologist in the state of Michigan. He is a member of the National Register of Health Service Psychologists. He is a member of the Michigan Psychological Association and has done some mentoring of early career professionals through MPA. He also is board certified in assessment psychology by the American Board of Assessment Psychology.
Dr. Griffith maintains a private practice in the areas of clinical and forensic assessment and consultation as well as supervision of early career professionals. He has been a consultant with Disability Determination Services since 1997. He has performed many juvenile competency exams and is qualified by Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to perform these exams. He and Dr. Littleton have performed many second opinion evaluations in high profile cases.
Dr. Griffith has taught at Kalamazoo Valley Community College and Kellogg Community College. Currently, he is an adjunct faculty member in the Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology Department at Western Michigan University where he has been for 20 years. He teaches courses in personality assessment, intellectual assessment, and has taught courses on brain behavior relationships and forensic psychology.
Brian Littleton, MS, PhD, LP
Brian Littleton's interest in psychology began when he was young teenager after accompanying his father to work at a state psychiatric hospital. However, he was not convinced that it was the path for him. While attending Wayne State University he majored in information systems only to realize that his heart was in psychology.
Dr. Littleton received his undergraduate degree from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan and later his Master's Degree in clinical health psychology from the University of Michigan, Dearborn. He later attended Western Michigan University's counseling psychology program. He graduated with his doctoral degree in counseling psychology in the winter of 2016. Dr. Littleton is a member of the American Psychological Association
Shortly after graduating with his bachelor's degree, he began work as a program facilitator in the metro-Detroit area facilitating parenting groups. He provided parenting groups in a variety of settings including county jails, residential substance abuse treatment facilities, homeless shelters and schools. As a master's level clinician, he continues his work in the community by conducting crisis evaluations and writing psychosocial disability reports for the SOAR program at Kalamazoo Community Mental Health Substance Abuse Services. He completed his predoctoral internship at the Battle Creek VA Medical center working with primarily with SMI population and substance. While there he was trained in evidence-based treatments for substance abuse and PTSD. He and Dr. Griffith have worked together in the psychological assessment field for over 15 years.
Dr. Littleton is currently a full-time faculty member in the psychology department at Mott Community College. Prior to his faculty appointment at Mott Community College, he taught a variety of psychology courses at Kalamazoo Valley Community College and Davenport University. He also served as a graduate teaching assistant for psychological courses at his doctoral and master's programs. He is also a consultant to Genesee County CMH.
Susan Benston, MA, LMSW, ACSW
Susan studied Sociology at Wheaton College in Illinois, and completed a yearlong internship at Warrenville Youth and Family Services. It was there that she learned the impact that caring professionals can have in the lives of others. Her work there involved supportive counseling with youth and senior citizens, self-esteem building group coordination for students in the local public elementary schools and volunteer coordination.
Susan then moved to Indiana, where she worked at the ARC of Fort Wayne, now Easter Seals Arc of Northeast Indiana, developing expertise in working with people with intellectual disabilities. She also worked at Park Center, adding experience in mental health work to her resume.
After moving to Michigan in the late 1990s, Susan received her Master of Social Work degree from Western Michigan University. Her internships were at the rehabilitation unit of Lakeland Community Hospital Watervliet and in the administrative unit of Burnham Brook Community Center in Battle Creek.
Since obtaining her MSW, she has worked in settings focused on the needs of senior citizens, youth, and people in recovery from acute medical conditions, severe and chronic mental illness and substance abuse. Susan also taught Problem Solving in Gerontology in the Social Work Department at Western Michigan University.
Susan is a clinical and macro licensed social worker in the state of Michigan. She is a member of the National Association of Social Workers.
Susan has assisted with office management for Assessment Psychology since 1997 and also provides biopsychosocial assessments and consultations. She provides supervision to early career social workers, having completed the NASW Michigan Core Supervision training in 2016 and also obtained her ASCW.
As noted above, Susan also has a master's degree in geography, with a focus on geographic information systems, from Western Michigan University. She worked as a research assistant doing computer mapping as part of a team predicting risk for Michigan potato agriculture, and was co-author on some of the published results. She also worked as a teaching assistant in basic statistical methods for social science research and has provided consultative services for graduate students applying statistics to their own research projects. She now is also employed as a geographic information specialist, providing mapping to install high speed internet.
Myshira Oliver, MA, PhD
Myshira Oliver first began formal training in psychology in high school where she participated in dual-enrollment classes through Wayne State University. She obtained her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor in 2016 where she dual-majored in Biopsychology, Cognition, Neuroscience and Spanish. While an undergraduate, her coursework also focused on an emphasis in applied statistics.
From there, she worked as a behavioral technician providing applied behavioral analysis services to children with neurodevelopmental disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). While in that position, she obtained a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology in 2018 from the Michigan School of Professional Psychology (now the Michigan School of Psychology). During this time, she received specialized training in person-centered and humanistic therapeutic approaches.
Directly after earning her Master’s she began her doctoral program at Andrews University studying Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in child/family. While at Andrews, she served as a graduate research assistant for several faculty members researching topics such as: executive functions, sensory processing, culture, stress, and diversity. As she progressed in her program, she found a passion for trauma-focused and trauma-informed work. She defended her dissertation entitled Examining the Relationship Between Child Maltreatment, Executive Function and Trauma Appraisal, and she continues to research the intersection between trauma and neuropsychology. She has also served as a teaching assistant for courses in her doctoral program. Dr. Oliver finished her PhD in 2023. She now serves as a consultant for Assessment Psychology. She is employed at the Forensic Center in Saline, Michigan as a psychologist.
While pursuing her doctoral degree, she began working with Dr. Griffith where she has assisted in completing various psychological evaluations. She completed her APA-accredited predoctoral psychology internship through the Ohio Psychology Internship consortium at Summit Psychological Associates, Inc in Akron, OH. There she received specialized training in forensic psychology and performed evaluations such as pre-employment, sex offender risk, NGRI and competency to stand trial. Furthermore, she provided psychological services to incarcerated individuals and provided both outpatient individual and group treatment for sex offenders, those involved with mental health courts, and domestic violence offenders.