Latiesha Dukes

Latiesha Dukes testified for the Commonwealth on Day 12 about counseling Lindsay Clancy during December 2022. A licensed mental health counselor, she described appointments on December 2, 5, 12 and 19, followed by limited contact through December 27. She recounted anxiety, sleep difficulties, low mood, numbness and passive suicidal thoughts without a reported plan. Her initial diagnosis was postpartum anxiety, and she reported no observed mania, delusions, paranoia or psychosis.

Dukes described recommending intensive outpatient or partial hospitalization services and arranging a Women and Infants referral with Clancy's consent. She distinguished those recommendations from emergency intervention and reported no safety-planning or Section 12 intervention. Although Clancy expressed concern about Ativan misuse, Dukes assessed no substance-use disorder based on the use reported to her. She emphasized that she was not a prescriber and directed the husband's later prescription concerns to the prescriber.

Under Kevin Reddington's cross-examination, Dukes confirmed continuing symptoms and Clancy's efforts to obtain help. She acknowledged several symptoms associated with postpartum depression but said Clancy had not expressed guilt, worthlessness or fatigue. She did not know why Women and Infants had not accepted Clancy and did not confirm counsel's suggestions about overmedication or unanswered outreach to Nurse Jollotta. She also acknowledged that she had not reviewed other clinicians' accessible records and had limited medication knowledge. Dukes agreed that Clancy appeared sincere and actively sought help.

On redirect, Dukes explained that she wanted a fresh assessment and described her December 19 impression of improvement through social contact and exercise. On recross, she acknowledged that the notes still recorded low mood and numbness. She maintained that following through with exercise indicated improvement, while conceding that she lacked exact exercise dates. She distinguished reported symptoms from observed presentation and explained that Clancy's laughter followed something funny Dukes had said. She also confirmed that a missed Women and Infants call coincided with another medical appointment and that Clancy subsequently made contact with her help.