Dr. Shiloh Catanese
Dr. Shiloh Catanese is a forensic and police psychologist, licensed in the state of California.
She began her professional career as a police officer with a small Southern California agency. She primarily conducted patrol duties, but also worked as a background investigator and was the department’s Terrorism Liaison Officer, often training with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. While working as an officer, she earned her graduate degrees and began training law enforcement throughout the country on forensic psychology topics, such as PTSD in Critical Incidents and the Psychology of Sex Offenders.
In 2006, she began working as a sex offender clinician as part of her graduate studies. This led to a full-time position as a psychologist working with the high-risk sex offender population. Dr. Catanese has worked with this clientele for over twelve years at the County, State, and Federal levels. Her work consisted of conducting psychosexual risk assessments, group treatment, and individual treatment. Her forensic psychology experience also includes substance abuse treatment, dual diagnosis, neuropsychology, and facilitating support groups for individuals going through the legal system. Her work in sex offender treatment allowed her the opportunity to work closely with U.S. Federal Probation, U.S. Federal Pretrial Services, California Department of Corrections, and all Southern California probation departments. She has also had articles published in various professional journals and books and has presented nationally and internationally on the treatment, assessment and management of sex offenders.
Dr. Catanese owns a private psychology practice and specializes in treating clients who have been convicted of a sexual offense and who are anticipating incarceration. Additionally, she works with family members of prisoners to adjust to life without their loved one. She has also taught at the graduate level and has conducted case-specific consultation with government agencies and private entities, concerning the inappropriate sexual behavior of employees.
In 2017, Dr. Catanese was hired as a Law Enforcement Psychologist with a large Southern California agency. Her duties include providing clinical therapy services to department employees and their significant others, providing consultation services to commanding officers and conducting training to sworn and civilian employees on a variety of wellness topics. She is also part of the department’s Crisis Negotiation Team, in which she responds as the consulting mental health professional on barricaded suspect and suicidal subject calls. She is an active member of the California Association of Hostage Negotiators and the National Council of Negotiation Associations. She has presented and published work on various crisis negotiation topics, including being a featured instructor at the Los Angeles FBI Basic Crisis Negotiation course.