Our founder
The clinician attorneys call when the story has to be told right.
Ryan E. Bates, LMHCFounding Member
- Expert Witness
- ICE Detention Case Experience
- Founder of Immival
- Founder & Lead Clinician, REB Human Services
- Licensed Mental Health Counselor (Massachusetts)
- MCPHS Clinical Preceptor
- Nearly two decades of clinical practice, since 2007
- Evaluations in English · professional Portuguese and Spanish interpreters
Every immigration case comes down to one person's story, and to whether it is documented well enough to be heard.
Ryan E. Bates has spent his career making sure it is. He is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Massachusetts and the founder of REB Human Services, a forensic mental health practice built entirely around immigration evaluations: asylum, extreme hardship waivers (I-601 / I-601A), U-Visa, VAWA, T-Visa, cancellation of removal and motions to reopen.
What attorneys get from Ryan's work: structured, DSM-5-TR based reports that are clear, well-organized and clearly sourced, and that are delivered on schedule. Evaluations are conducted in English, with professional interpreters for Portuguese and Spanish, so clients can share their experience fully in the language they know best.
Experience that shows in every report. Since 2007, Ryan has worked across community mental health, psychotherapy, dual-diagnosis treatment, clinical supervision and program leadership. He has spent years alongside people affected by trauma, domestic violence and complex mental health needs, and today he trains the next generation of clinicians as a clinical preceptor.
Trusted in the courtroom. Ryan has served as an expert witness in numerous immigration proceedings, including cases of people held in ICE detention. His standard never changes: his clinical opinions are independent and his own, and legal decisions stay with counsel and the court. That independence is exactly what makes an evaluation credible.
Academic partnership
Mass College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences
Through the partnership between REB Human Services and the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS), Ryan serves as a clinical preceptor: he oversees field experience and supervises clinicians, nurses and nurse practitioner students as they learn to assess and document real cases.
That connection is not a badge on a page. It anchors the work in current research, evidence-based assessment instruments and the ethical standards of a health sciences institution founded in 1823, with campuses in Boston, Worcester and Manchester.
What it means for attorneys: the clinical reasoning behind every report is grounded in the same academic standards the institution teaches, so the work holds up to the scientific scrutiny immigration courts increasingly demand.
- Clinical preceptor · field supervision
- Evidence-based assessment instruments
- Boston · Worcester · Manchester
Why Ryan built Immival
From both sides of the referral, Ryan saw the same problem over and over. Attorneys spend days searching for an evaluator they can rely on, while skilled clinicians who want this work can't get found.
Immival is his answer: a free, state-by-state directory that connects immigration attorneys with licensed mental health clinicians, so more families get a careful evaluation, on time.
- For attorneys: search by state, case type and language. No account needed.
- For clinicians: list your practice for free and get found by the attorneys who need you.
Results in past cases depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes. Immival is a directory operated by REB Human Services. It does not endorse or guarantee any listed clinician and does not provide legal services.