Having a thorough and intelligent forensic psychiatrist is vital when working with complex civil and criminal cases, and with each state having their own restrictions and legal proceedings, an experienced psychiatrist will make a big difference in supporting a case. Dr. Clay Pavlis is a top forensic psychiatrist in South Dakota and has worked with forensic cases at a national level.
Dr Pavlis and his support team directly assess psycho-legal constructs and capacities such as a criminal defendant’s competence to stand trial. An example of tests performed include: Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS-2), Inventory of Legal Knowledge (ILK), Miller Forensic Assessment of Symptoms Test (M-Fast), Evaluation of Competency to Stand Trial – Revised (ECST-R).
A good forensic psychiatrist will offer written witness testimony that will often prevent the case from even getting called to trial. If an attorney takes a case to trial, though, Dr Pavlis is the well-spoken, level-headed psychiatrist who is the key mental health expert witness sought after. He has a broad range of forensic experience and welcomes every new case with focus and dedication, working through every aspect of each case with a thorough process.
Dr. Pavlis, MWI Health’s Chief Medical Director and Psychiatrist, is experienced in providing independent psychiatric evaluations for Veteran’s Affairs (VA) services, always striving to offer an unbiased, knowledgeable, and professional evaluation. Dr. Pavlis provides psychiatric evaluations including PTSD and TBI regularly to our nation’s heroes and workforce through the major third party organizations, QTC, Optum Serve/LHI, and VES, as well as privately. Leading a highly trained group of mental health providers, Dr Pavlis is scheduled for a mix of in-person and telehealth Veteran visits and provides thorough quality reports in a timely manner.
Clay Pavlis, M.D., earned his BS in Biology after graduation Summa Com Laude from South Dakota State University in Brookings, SD. He attended Medical School at the University of Minnesota – Duluth and the University of South Dakota School of Medicine. He is board-certified in Adult Psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and licensed in Iowa, Illinois, Texas, Kentucky, North Dakota, and Nebraska, as well as South Dakota and Minnesota.
Dr. Pavlis’s vision for offering personalized care for residents of South Dakota and Minnesota with a team of providers focused on individualized care was the catalyst for him establishing Midwest Wellness Institute, PLLC in 2012, now known as MWI Health. As the chief psychiatrist and medical officer, Dr. Pavlis now leads a growing team of mental health providers, nurses, and staff with organizational core focuses of establishing contracted mental health services through trust-based partnerships, excelling at efficient and thorough independent psychiatric evaluations, and providing patients advanced and comprehensive psychiatric clinic services.
Consistently trying to find innovative ways to improve lives, Dr Pavlis specializes in psychiatric forensic evaluations, independent psychiatric evaluations, Veteran services and evals, opioid addiction treatment with Suboxone, medication management, neuromodulation with TMS, and psychopharmacologenomics. Dr Pavlis also believes strongly in mentorship and education, regularly working with local preceptorship students each semester.
In addition to managing MWI Health’s diverse portfolio of services, Dr. Pavlis also serves as Medical Director at MWI Health, seeing patients of all ages and as young as 5 years old at Community Counseling Services in Madison & Huron, SD, CCM Health in Montevideo, MN, and geriatric patients at Bethel Nursing Home in Madison, SD. Dr Pavlis also oversees the mental health treatment at Windom Area Health in Windom, MN, treats inmates and consults Minnehaha County Jail, and provides guidance to mental health providers at Human Services Agency in Watertown, SD.