Caroline N. Sharkey PhD, LICSW, LCSW

My research and practice center the impact of trauma and historical trauma on metro communities with a focus on collective efficacy and social cohesion as ways to mitigate community violence and address the needs of young people in city contexts. I examine the role of macro/meso-systemic therapeutic interventions, including restorative approaches, youth civic engagement, and socially engaged art and digital storytelling to foster positive youth development (PYD). 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 nearly 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.