Keisha Shakespeare-Blackmore, Staff Reporter
DR. SAL SEVERE
HIS FIRST career choice was to be a mathematics teacher. But, as fate would have it, Dr. Sal Severe has become a world-renowned psychologist.
He first fell in love with psychology when he attended Kenish College in Buffalo, New York. "After my first psychology class I fell in love with it so I switched from mathematics," recalled Dr. Severe in an interview with Flair. He later went on to Buffalo State College, and Arizona State College where he obtained his masters and doctorate.
WORKING WITH CHILDREN
Since 1976 he has been a psychologist but he has concentrated his practice on child psychology. In 1968 he began working with children with dysfunctional families, those who were victims of abuse or frequently in trouble with the law. Since then, Dr. Severe has been working with handicapped children, those with emotional, mental and behavioural problems.
Though the doctor loves to work with children he admits is both difficult and rewarding. "I also find that working with parents who are not willing to change is very challenging. And parents who are stuck in their old ways have children who end up doing the same thing, even when there is involvement of other professionals or the police; that makes my work very difficult." However, he noted that despite the challenges he probably would never give up.
Dr. Severe has also worked closely with parents to set them on the path to be better. Thus his inspiration for his New YorkTimes best-selling book, How To Behave So Your Children Will, Too, which has sold over 600,000 copies and has been translated into 21 languages. The inspiration for the book came in 1980 while working at a school district in Phoenix, Arizona. He worked with children who were abused and had mental, behavioural and emotional problems. He realised that he was not getting enough covered by working with children only and had to get the parents involved.
"I started teaching parenting classes and they became very popular." He added that these classes established the best solutions to a given problem. The book is a collection of stories and problems from these parents aimed at helping others solve their problems.
In the past 28 years, he has conducted more than 1,200 workshops across the United States for over 70,000 parents and teachers. He has also provided training for the teachers and staff at orphanages in Jamaica.
