Mental health clinician Latiesha Dukes testified Wednesday about her treatment of Lindsay Clancy in the weeks before Clancy was accused of killing her three children, providing new details about her mental health struggles and attempts to seek crisis support.
Dukes worked at the Perinatal Behavioral Health Clinic at South Shore Hospital, where Clancy received treatment in late 2022. She told the court that she had four virtual sessions with Clancy between December 2 and December 19.
Latiesha Dukes testified about Lindsay Clancy’s treatment
During her testimony, Dukes said Clancy reported experiencing insomnia, anxiety, postpartum depression and occasional suicidal thoughts.
Clancy also described severe sleep deprivation and weight loss. Dukes said Clancy was frequently worried that something bad would happen to her children.
During a December 12 video session, Dukes recommended that Clancy seek a higher level of outpatient care designed for postpartum mothers.
“I was recommending this higher level of care because of continued passive suicidal ideation,” Dukes testified.
According to Dukes, Clancy had also told her that she had contacted a crisis hotline.
Clancy contacted ASPIRE twice
One of the key moments in Dukes’ testimony involved Clancy’s reported attempts to receive help through ASPIRE, a crisis support service.
Clancy’s defence attorney Kevin Reddington asked Dukes whether Clancy had contacted ASPIRE twice.
“Two times she contacted ASPIRE, not once. Both times they told her there was nothing they could do for her?” Reddington asked.
“Correct,” Dukes replied.
Dukes said Clancy contacted the service during the weekend of December 3 and 4, 2022.
At a subsequent appointment on December 5, Clancy reportedly told Dukes that she had experienced a difficult weekend involving intrusive thoughts about dying and had sought emergency assistance.
According to the testimony, Clancy was told she did not meet the criteria for inpatient treatment because she did not have a specific plan to act on her suicidal thoughts.
What did Clancy tell her counselor?
Dukes testified that Clancy did not directly communicate an intention to kill herself during their sessions, although she had acknowledged experiencing suicidal thoughts.
“She had a difficult weekend, having intrusive thought that she wanted to die,” Dukes said while describing what Clancy had told her.
The testimony is expected to be significant to the defence, which has argued that Clancy’s mental health condition and treatment played an important role in the events that followed.
Lindsay Clancy murder trial
Clancy, 35, is accused of killing her three children, Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, at the family’s home in Duxbury, Massachusetts.
She faces three counts of first degree murder and could receive life imprisonment without parole if convicted.
Clancy and her former husband have also pursued separate legal action against medical professionals and hospitals involved in her treatment. Their claims allege that she was overmedicated and that doctors failed to properly identify conditions including bipolar disorder and postpartum psychosis.
The allegations against the medical professionals remain disputed, and the criminal case is ongoing.