Caroline N. Sharkey PhD, LICSW, LCSW
Social Worker, Researcher, Educator
Caroline N. Sharkey, PhD, MSW, LCSW, LICSW is an Assistant Professor at the University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY).
"If the structure does not permit dialogue, the structure must be changed” - Paulo Freire
My research and practice center on the impact of trauma and historical trauma on young people living in city contexts and their communities. This work focuses on collective efficacy, social cohesion, crisis response models, and community embodied frameworks as ways to address the needs of young people in cities to promote at-promise youth paradigms and to mitigate trauma, including community violence, state-sanctioned violence, mass and school mass shootings, and historical trauma. I examine the role of meso/macro-therapeutic interventions, including socially engaged art, digital storytelling, restorative practices, and youth civic engagement, to foster positive youth development (PYD) and critical youth perspectives. I work to promote social work in non-traditional/non-clinical settings and to advance social work practices beyond conventional clinical domains.
My research methods center on youth participatory action research (YPAR), intersectional qualitative research, arts-based mixed methods, and emancipatory research methods. It is integral to shift the deficit paradigm about city communities to an asset paradigm that embraces the joy, authenticity, and informal support systems that can foster collective efficacy. I proudly embed my experience as a queer, Maltese-Arab/Irish, “city-kid turned urban scholar” into my work to address the lived and stated needs of people and communities in small, mid-sized, and metro cities. My work as an educator of more than 25 years addresses curriculum violence using culturally sustaining pedagogies, trauma-informed teaching, and multi-modal/experiential learning.
I center my scholarship, teaching, and clinical work on anti-racist practices, and I am committed to being an accomplice to fostering emancipatory structural changes. It is my goal to integrate research and therapeutic interventions that are culturally informed and congruent to historically marginalized people and communities to foster collective efficacy, social justice, and capacity-building community programs.
