Sharon A. Hoover, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist and Professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr. Hoover is Co-Director of the National Center for School Mental Health (NCSMH, https://www.schoolmentalhealth.org/) and Director of the National Center for Safe Supportive Schools (NCS, https://www.ncs3.org/). She leads national efforts to support states, districts, and schools in the adoption of national performance standards of comprehensive school mental health systems (see https://theshapesystem.com/).
Dr. Hoover has led and collaborated on multiple federal and state grants, with a commitment to the study and implementation of quality children’s mental health services. Creating safe, supportive, and resilient schools has been a major emphasis of Dr. Hoover’s research, education, and clinical work. She has worked for two decades, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Education, and the World Health Organization to train state and community education and behavioral health leaders and professionals in multi-tiered systems of support for mental health and psychological trauma. Dr. Hoover is a co-developer and international trainer for two widely used, evidence-based school interventions, the Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) and Supporting Transition Resilience of Newcomer Groups (STRONG).