David A. Clayman, Ph.D.
Owner and Director, Clayman & Associates, PLLC
SAMANTHA CART
David Clayman, Ph.D., has been serving
the citizens of West Virginia as a clinical,
medical and forensic psychologist and
advocate for 45 years.
A native of Massachusetts, Clayman
earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology
from Trinity College in Hartford, CT,
and his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from
the University of Vermont. His interest
in behavioral medicine led him to the
Mountain State in 1974 when he joined
the faculty of West Virginia University
(WVU) School of Medicine’s Department
of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry.
While his job was to provide outpatient
psychotherapy and train medical students,
much of his time was spent on medical
floors consulting on patients experiencing
emotional and behavioral issues associated
with their illnesses and working closely
with physicians and nurses.
Determined to show an integrated
approach to mental health and medical
disease management and demonstrate his
usefulness in managing difficult patients,
Clayman immersed himself in medical
psychology activities both in the hospital
and the community. Since then, he has
been a passionate advocate for achieving
the highest level of integrated health in
West Virginia.
In 1981, Clayman left academia to form
Process Strategies Institute with clinical
psychologist Steven Dreyer, Ph.D. The
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WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE
Photo by Leah Vance Photography.
practice provided outpatient mental health
services using nonmedical psychological
techniques. The team quickly grew to
include more than 25 therapists working
to destigmatize those seeking treatment
for mental health issues.
As Clayman continued to push bound-
aries, his expert skill set was sought by
a variety of businesses and agencies. In
1984, a request from Judge Andrew Mac-
Queen for a psychological assessment
changed the course of Clayman’s career.
“The judge was concerned about a case
involving a Vietnam veteran who acted
criminally but did not appear to have
criminal intent,” Clayman recalls. “This
prompted my first formal engagement
with the criminal court system.”
From there, court referrals grew steadily.
To date, Clayman has been involved in
providing forensic psychological services
in approximately 5,000 civil and criminal
court cases as a qualified state and federal
expert. He served as a medical expert for
the Social Security Administration’s Office
of Hearing and Appeals for 15 years, and
in 2006, Governor Joe Manchin appointed
him to serve on the Sexually Violent Pred-
ator Management Task Force and the Eye-
witness Identification Task Force. He is
one of two psychologists who has served
as an advisor to the Office of Behavioral
Health Services and for the West Virginia
Department of Health & Human Resources