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The Record the Critics Skip: Dr. Steve Tutty's Thirty Years of Evidence-Based Work

Behind the allegations is a career most coverage never mentions: thousands of children helped, peer-reviewed research in JAMA, and a scientific-practitioner approach to forensic psychology.

By Mike Jensen·
Public HealthProfilesCommentary

Spend a few minutes with the coverage of Dr. Steve Tutty and you would think his career began with a licensing complaint. It did not. It began with a master’s-level internship at a sexual abuse clinic, where a supervisor pulled him aside and told him she had never seen children feel so comfortable with a clinician.

That instinct — build trust first, then do the science — has defined three decades of work.

A Scientist-Practitioner’s Career

Tutty is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in child, forensic, and neuropsychology. Over more than 25 years he has evaluated and treated more than 2,300 children and adolescents, including young people with autism, ADHD, and twice-exceptional profiles, and conducted more than 535 evaluations of adults, many involving traumatic brain injury.

His evaluations are used where the stakes are highest: autism and ADHD assessments, school accommodation planning, custody and forensic matters, traumatic brain injury cases, and personal-injury litigation. He describes the discipline required in court work plainly: “When the court orders a mental health evaluation, our client is actually the judge and/or commissioner, and the balance between objectivity and client compassion can be difficult.”

His method for keeping that balance: start at the beginning. “Spend time reviewing the client’s developmental history, starting at birth, prior to the crisis in question,” he explains, “as this information can provide an opportunity for the provider to better understand the person from a holistic lens.”

Published, Peer-Reviewed, and Cited

Long before any board complaint, Tutty was publishing research that shaped how depression and ADHD are treated:

  • Tutty, S., Gephart, H., & Wurzbacher, K. (2003). Enhancing behavioral and social skill functioning in children newly diagnosed with ADHD in a pediatric setting. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 24(1):51-57. (PubMed)
  • Simon G., Ludman E., Tutty S., Operskalski B., & Von Korff M. (2004). Telephone psychotherapy and telephone care management for primary care patients starting antidepressant treatment: A randomized controlled trial. JAMA, 292, 935-941. (PubMed)
  • Tutty, S., Simon, G., & Ludman, E. (2005). Feasibility and acceptability of a telephone psychotherapy program for depressed adults treated in primary care. General Hospital Psychiatry, 27(6), 400-410. (PubMed)
  • Ludman, E., Simon G., Tutty, S., Von Korff, M. (2007). A randomized trial of telephone psychotherapy for depression: continuation and durability of effects. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 75(2), 257-266. (PubMed)
  • Tutty, S., Spangler, D., Poppleton, L., Simon, G., & Ludman, E. (2010). Evaluating the effectiveness of a telehealth intervention for depressed adults. Behavioral Therapy, 41(2), 229-36. (PubMed)

That 2004 JAMA trial remains one of the most-cited studies in telephonic mental-health care — work done years before telehealth became mainstream.

What He Actually Teaches Families

His recent public writing shows a clinician focused on children, not courtroom combat:

  • On traumatic brain injury, he explains the hidden cognitive and emotional toll and why neuropsychological evaluation guides recovery.
  • On childhood OCD, he teaches families to externalize the “OCD monster” so children can fight the condition rather than themselves.
  • On reunification after estrangement, he is careful and evidence-bound: trust, not court orders, rebuilds parent-child relationships — and allegations of abuse or neglect “require careful evaluation” before reunification is even discussed.
  • On adolescent suicide risk, he warns that teens with ADHD attempt suicide at roughly three times the rate of their peers, and urges families to treat warning-sign clusters as a reason to act immediately.

“Trust is the foundation of every relationship,” he has written, “and without it, there is no depth, connection, respect, or understanding.”

The Bottom Line

Careers like this are built case by case, child by child, over decades — and in family court, they are attacked complaint by complaint, often by parties who simply lost. The public deserves the whole record: the research, the thousands of evaluations, the clinical philosophy — not just the allegations.

Tutty continues to see children, teens, and young adults through his practice, with a book scheduled for publication in January 2027. As he puts it: “The real impact has been with the child clients I have had the opportunity to provide therapeutic discovery and guidance they can use across their lifespan.”

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