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OUR PHYSICIANS
Zachary Kennedy, MD
Co-Founder and Psychiatrist
Statewide DFPS Experience. Advanced Addiction Expertise. Clear, Defensible Evaluations.
Dr. Zachary Kennedy is a board-certified psychiatrist who has conducted independent DFPS psychiatric evaluations across multiple regions of Texas and provided court testimony concerning his findings. His background in addiction psychiatry, state hospital forensic care, psychiatric emergencies, and residential medical leadership allows him to bring exceptional clinical depth to complex child-welfare and legal matters.
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
Professional Background
Dr. Zachary Kennedy is a board-certified adult psychiatrist with subspecialty fellowship training in addiction psychiatry from UT Southwestern Medical Center. His broad clinical background spans psychiatric emergency care, inpatient psychiatry, addiction treatment, medical consultation, residential and detoxification programs, community mental health, correctional psychiatry, and civil and forensic state hospital practice.
Dr. Kennedy has extensive experience conducting independent psychiatric evaluations for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services across multiple regions throughout Texas. He evaluates complex questions involving psychiatric diagnosis, substance use, trauma, treatment needs, functional impairment, parental functioning, protective capacity, and the ability to provide safe and consistent care for children.
His evaluations extend beyond a single clinical interview. Dr. Kennedy synthesizes medical and psychiatric histories, prescription records, toxicology findings, hospitalization records, legal and child-welfare documents, prior evaluations, treatment records, collateral interviews, and conflicting accounts. He translates this information into clear, clinically grounded reports that directly address referral questions and provide practical, individualized recommendations.
Dr. Kennedy has appeared in court pursuant to subpoena to provide testimony concerning his psychiatric evaluations. This experience has required him to clearly explain psychiatric findings, diagnostic reasoning, substance-related concerns, risk factors, protective capacities, and treatment recommendations to judges, attorneys, caseworkers, and other professionals involved in child-welfare proceedings.
His state hospital experience includes work with individuals receiving civil and forensic psychiatric care, including patients found not guilty by reason of insanity, individuals involved in competency assessment and restoration, and patients requiring treatment in high-acuity and maximum-security environments. This work has provided substantial experience evaluating severe mental illness, behavioral risk, impaired judgment, treatment adherence, psychiatric stability, and the relationship between clinical symptoms and functional capacity.
Dr. Kennedy has also served as Medical Director of a residential addiction treatment facility, where he provided physician leadership for interdisciplinary addiction treatment, withdrawal management, psychiatric stabilization, medications for addiction treatment, clinical protocol development, advanced practice provider supervision, medication safety, and quality-improvement initiatives.
His advanced training in addiction psychiatry provides particular expertise in alcohol, opioid, sedative, stimulant, cannabis, and other substance-related conditions. He is experienced in differentiating primary psychiatric disorders from substance-induced symptoms, assessing relapse and overdose risk, evaluating the relationship between substance use and parenting, and determining appropriate levels of treatment and recovery support.
Dr. Kennedy also completed UT Southwestern’s Interventional Psychiatry Concentration, with additional experience in electroconvulsive therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation, ketamine and esketamine, and emerging neuromodulation treatments.
Through Verity Psychiatric Assessment Group, Dr. Kennedy provides rigorous, independent, and evidence-informed psychiatric evaluations for child-welfare agencies, courts, attorneys, community-based care organizations, and other referral sources. His approach combines clinical depth, forensic clarity, and respect for the individuals and families involved.
Request an Evaluation
Contact Verity Psychiatric Assessment Group to discuss a referral, anticipated record volume, evaluation needs, and scheduling.