Clinical Psychologist
Dr Sarah Cluley is a registered Clinical Psychologist with the New Zealand Psychologists’ Board, with over a decade of experience across clinical and forensic settings. She works in full-time private practice, with a primary focus on the provision of specialist psychological assessments, including ACC Sensitive Claims assessments.
Her ACC-related practice centres on the careful, evidence-based assessment of trauma-related mental injury, with particular expertise in complex presentations involving multiple stressors, neurodiversity, cognitive difficulties, and longstanding mental health concerns. Her reports aim to achieve clarity, clinical depth, and ability to integrate complex information into a coherent and balanced opinion.
In addition to ACC work, Sarah has extensive experience in forensic assessment, including the provision of pre-sentence and pre-trial reports, Section 38 and Section 88 assessments, parole reports, and risk-related opinions for Extended Supervision Orders, Public Protection Orders, and Immigration New Zealand. She also provides expert witness testimony. This background informs a structured, defensible approach to assessment that is well suited to medico-legal contexts.
Sarah approaches her work in a compassionate, culturally responsive, and non-judgemental manner. She aims to create a respectful and supportive assessment environment, while maintaining a clear focus on producing independent, high-quality clinical opinions.
Sarah is an ACC-registered provider under the Sensitive Claims Services contract and a member of the New Zealand Psychological Society (NZPsS), the Institute of Criminal Justice and Forensic Psychology (ICJFP), the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Legal Practice (ANZAPPL), the Society for the Advancement of Actuarial Risk Need Assessment (SAARNA), and the New Zealand Special Interest Group for Neuropsychology (NZSiGN).
