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Mark Sirkin

Assistant Professor of Psychology

University of Connecticut, PhDBS, Boston University; MA

Description

Dr. Mark Sirkin is the recently appointed Interim Program Director.  He has a PhD from the University of Connecticut in Clinical Psychology, as well as a Master's Degree in Clinical Psychology from the same institution.  He was trained in the Scientist-Practitioner Boulder Model and he completed his clinical internship at the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services, at the time the nation's largest outpatient clinic serving a diverse population throughout New York City.  While there he worked with children, adults, couples, and families.  He remained at the Jewish Board for several years, providing clinical and research support for their specialty clinic working with Cult-Involved families, particularly Jewish families, which were struggling with cult involvement in the 1980's.  As a result of his clinical work, and subsequent research, he became one of the country's leading experts on cult involvement, especially in Jewish families.  Dissociative disorders were also common sequelae in these families and this also became a focus of Dr. Sirkin's later work.  During this time, he also developed an expertise in family therapy; he trained with notable New York family therapists at the Ackerman Institute and with Dr. Salvador Minuchin.  He remained as a researcher/clinician at the Jewish Board for about five years following his internship.  At this time, he also assisted with a research project with Homeless Families, unhoused due to poverty or fire, living in transient facilities. As part of this research, Dr. Sirkin traveled to the five boroughs, sitting with homeless families in transition for research as well as assisting with social services.  At the time, the Jewish Board was a leading training institute, as well as a multi-site clinic, for psychoanalysis and the application of psychodynamic techniques to families and children.

Next, Dr. Sirkin moved to the University of Rochester Medical Center, where he was appointed as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry (in Psychology).  He continued developing his expertise in family therapy and research, working with notable family therapy researchers such as Lyman Wynne and Susan McDaniel.  He developed additional expertise in Group Therapy and was eventually appointed Director, Group Training and Research, where he supervised and taught both clinical psychology interns and medical students.

Following his stint in Rochester, he returned to New York City as a clinical assistant professor at the Ferkauf School of Psychology where he taught group therapy courses; he was also named Director of the Robert M. Beren Center for the Jewish Family, where he focused on clinical services and research with Jewish families, and others, challenged by familial opposition to intermarriage.  This became an exploration into diversity within the Jewish community as he worked with strictly observant, moderately observant, and non-observant Jewish individuals as they struggled with issues of diversity in a community often threatened by assimilation.  While at Yeshiva University, the leading Jewish Orthodox-affiliated university outside of Israel, he worked as a dissertation advisor for many PhD and PsyD dissertation projects.  As he developed relationships with higher-level administrators, he became a psychological resource for the university including its rabbinic school and women's college and medical school (the Albert Einstein College of Medicine).  He was later appointed to the faculty of AECOM, where he worked with Evan Imber-Black as a founding faculty member of the Urban Institute for Families and Family Therapy. 

Following his affiliation with AECOM, Dr. Sirkin earned a post-doctoral certificate from the certificate program in Organizational Development and Consultation at the William Alanson White Institute for Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and Psychology in New York, NY.  This training reinforced and deepened his commitment to the application of systems theory in clinical work and consultation.  It represented a continuation of his work with families and groups, applying a similar theoretical orientation.  In 1994, he began working with the leading psychological consultancy in the country, RHR International, and he transitioned from clinical work to consulting work, which he views as the application of psychological principles to non-clinical populations (executives, businesses, etc.).  This represented a career transition and a temporary hiatus from clinical work for about 18 years.  During this time, he worked with several national consulting firms, developing specialties in consulting to family businesses and law firms; areas where he has gained national prominence and recognition.  He has been an active member in Division 13, Consulting Psychology; he has been President of the division (for three years as part of the Presidential trio, and other roles within the division).  He currently serves on CODAPAR and he is on the Council for APA.  He is also active in the New York State Psychological Association (NYSPA), where he serves on Council.  He is a Fellow of the Society of Consulting Psychology, a division of the APA.

In 2012, Dr. Sirkin returned to academia with an appointment as Director of the Mental Health Counseling Program, at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, NY.  The Master’s in Mental Health Counseling was a 2-3 year post-baccalaureate degree; during this time he was involved in teaching, training, supervision, and site visits and oversite for over 100 students.  During this time, he hired and supervised about five full-time faculty and many more adjuncts.  He was involved with curriculum development and improvement and served for many years on the College's curriculum committee.  He was appointed Associate Dean of the School of Behavioral Sciences (which housed the Counseling Programs) and worked closely with the dean to develop a board of advisors and provide general administrative assistance to the School.  Upon the death of the Director of Counseling, he assumed responsibility for both School Counseling and Mental Health Counseling programs.  He left Mercy College in August of 2019 to pursue endeavors related to the application of psychological principles in the field of cyber-psychology.  He has three patents pending for a Multi-Level Cyber-Security Risk Assessment and Mitigation System, based on the application of systems theory and consulting theory to challenges related to human factors in the development and training required to maintain healthy IT systems and workplaces as well as challenges related to information security for personal use.

In November of 2022, Dr. Sirkin joined Long Island University as an Associate Dean of the School of Health Professions with oversight of their PsyD program, among about eight additional programs in the health sciences at the Post campus of LIU.  In this role, he had supervisory responsibilities for 37 full-time faculty and 72 adjuncts; currently, the School has an enrollment of about 755 students (not including nursing) and manages about 228 clinical placements in the community.  With the resignation of the two PsyD program co-directors, he was asked by the administration to guide the program through the self-study and re-accreditation process.

The University has begun the process of a search for a permanent program director from outside the college.  It is expected once a permanent Program Director is appointed, Dr. Sirkin will return to the office of the dean, where he will support the PsyD program on an administrative level.

To summarize, Dr. Sirkin is well-qualified as a licensed clinical psychologist in New York and as a graduate in clinical psychology from an APA-approved clinical program and internship to lead the PsyD program at Long Island University as long as the need exists.  He has over 30 years of experience teaching psychology, or psychology-related subjects, at the post-baccalaureate level. He hopes to help establish and stabilize the PsyD program leadership, facilitate relations with the administration, and be an ongoing resource for all PsyD students.  In this vein, he plans to encourage active membership among students in APA and NYSPA to enhance their career identify and opportunities.  He has also been working with the local, campus, NPR-affiliated radio station, to produce a talk show exploring the world of applied and health service psychology for the general public.  He hopes to involve clinical psychology students in this work to help them become more comfortable with media and bringing psychology to the general public.

Specialties

  • Post-Doctoral Certificate in Organizational Consulting, W. A. White Institute
  • Level 2 Training in Gottman Method Couples Therapy

Publications

Sirkin, M. I. (in press).  Partners in time: Working with multi-generational enterprises.  In

  F. W. Kaslow (Ed.), Contemporary Issues in Couples and Family Psychology.  NY:

  Springer Publishing.

 

Sirkin, M. I. & AlRoy, C.  (2023, October).  Exploring the four pillars of consulting:        

     Assessments, individuals, teams, organizations. Invited talk for the OCW Division of the New

    York State Psychological Association (via Zoom).

 

Sirkin, M. I., Sokol, M. B., Gage, D., Gage, D.  (2023, February).  How to make partnership

   consulting part of your practice.  Workshop at the Society of Consulting Psychology,

   Midwinter Conference, Manhattan Beach, CA.

 

Sirkin, M.  (2022, June).  Creating lasting partnerships.  NY: Forbes, Forbes Business Council,

Small Business Forum.   https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/07/11/creating-lasting-partnerships/?sh=6d1b28701bd1

 

Sirkin, M. I.  (2021, May).  The emerging field of cyber psychology.  Invited address to The

     Chicago School of Professional Psychology International Alumni Association.  (Delivered

     via Zoom).

 

Sirkin, M. I.  (2020, October).  Neuro-narrative re-mapping: An integrated approach to

    coaching theory & practice.  Keynote address to the 10th International Conference of    

    Coaching Psychology at the annual meeting of the International Society for Coaching

    Psychology, London, England.  (Delivered via Zoom).

 

Sirkin, M. I.  (2020, August).  ‘Nothing quite so practical …’: Toward an inclusive theory of

  applied psychology: Integrating systems theory, neuroscience, social motives, and narrative.      Presidential address for Division 13, at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological        Association, Washington, DC (Delivered via Zoom).

 

Sirkin, M. I. & Manzi, A.  (2018).  Mindfulness and neuroscience: An integrated approach to

positive counseling.  In G. J.  McAuliffe (Ed.), Positive Counseling.  San Diego, CA:  Cognella Academic Publishing.

 

Sirkin, M. I.  (2018, March).  Narratives of evil:  Exploring the psychology of prejudice through

political art.  Invited address in the Empowering Unique Identities Speaker Series, Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, NY.

 

  • Fellow, American Psychological Association, Div. 13; APA Council; NYSPA Council