Michael Civin PhD on Adolescent Care and Mentoring New Psychologists
Adolescence brings developmental pressures that adult treatment models rarely address well, which is why the focus Michael Civin PhD places on this age group carries real weight. Young people navigating identity, family conflict, academic strain, and emerging mental health concerns need clinicians fluent in their particular stage of life. His practice has made that population a priority rather than an afterthought.
How the Work Is Structured
Assessment comes first. Psychodiagnostic testing allows him to identify personality patterns and behavioral tendencies before treatment direction is set, which reduces guesswork with clients who may struggle to articulate what they are feeling. Group therapy often follows, offering adolescents the experience of peers facing comparable challenges. This work takes place at Rose Hill Psychological Services in the Bronx, co-founded in 2008 where he is senior psychologist, and through his private practice operating since 2007 in Manhattan, Astoria, and Bayville.
Training the Next Generation
Supervision forms the second pillar of his professional identity. By overseeing emerging psychologists in both clinical and academic settings, Michael Civin PhD transfers judgment that cannot be taught from a syllabus. His appointments as a full professor, associate professor, and faculty member at several institutions have reinforced this mentoring role, and supervisory practice appears among the subjects he has addressed in published journal articles and psychology book chapters.
Preparation That Enables Both
His credentials support this dual focus. A cum laude A.B. from Harvard College in 1968 was followed by study at Albert Einstein College of Medicine through 1969 and a first M.A. from the University of Oregon in 1970. After more than a decade working outside academia, he completed a second M.A. in Clinical Psychology in 1986, a PhD in 1988 at Adelphi’s Gordon F. Derner Institute, and postdoctoral certification in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy in 1993.
Theory and firsthand experience operate together in his approach, which is exactly what both a struggling teenager and a supervisee still finding their footing tend to need most.