About

Dr. Kline Pruett’s career has straddled two worlds: one as an academic and one as a community-based and private practitioner working in real systems and organizations with diverse families experiencing transition and crisis.  She is a consultant in profit and not-for-profit organizations, clinician, and nationally recognized expert in family systems, child development, and dispute resolution. Her work integrates psychology, education, legal systems, and organizational consultation to help institutions and professionals strengthen outcomes for children and families.

She holds master’s degrees in Education from the University of Pennsylvania and Legal Studies from Yale Law School, and earned her Ph.D. in Clinical/Community Psychology from University of California, Berkeley. She is board certified in Couples and Family Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology and is a Fellow of the Society for Couple and Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association.

Her advanced professional training includes family therapy, mediation, substance abuse prevention and intervention, and alternative dispute resolution. Across her career, she has worked at the intersection of mental health, education, legal systems, and organizational practice.

Following 14 years as a consultant, administrator and researcher affiliated with the Yale University School of Medicine and the Yale Child Study Center, Dr. Kline Pruett joined Smith College School for Social Work as the inaugural Maconda Brown O’Connor Professor. She continues to serve in an adjunct role in psychology while maintaining an active consulting and clinical practice.

Dr. Kline Pruett works with courts, schools, financial organizations, healthcare systems, and community agencies to design and strengthen programs that support families and children. Her consulting focuses on preventive and collaborative approaches to family conflict, co-parenting, child-centered dispute resolution, father engagement, and interdisciplinary professional collaboration.

In addition to organizational consulting, she provides mediation, child custody consultation, expert witness services, collaborative divorce support, and clinical consultation for professionals and institutions. Her work is grounded in translating research into practical, effective strategies that improve outcomes for families, professionals, and systems.

In her various roles, she has directed programs and departments, managed budgets, developed and conducted training programs, designed curricula and syllabi, and coordinated education and services for students ranging from middle school to higher education at undergraduate, masters, doctoral intern and resident levels.