Beth Casarjian, Ph.D.

clinical director

Beth Casarjian, Ph.D. has developed, implemented, and evaluated the impact of asset-based, psychosocial interventions created for adolescent populations including those in residential treatment, youth involved in the juvenile justice system, and homeless and court-involved teen mothers. She is co-author of Lionheart’s Power Source: Taking Charge of Your Life (PS); Power Source Parenting: Growing Up Strong and Raising Healthy Kids (PSP); and EQ2: Empowering Direct Care Staff to Build Trauma-Informed Communities for Youth and a principal contributor to the original version of Goldie Hawn's school-based mindfulness curriculum, MindUp. 

Dr. Casarjian has served as the Clinical Director of The Heritage School Ambulatory Mental Health Clinic a project of Columbia University and the Robinhood Foundation. Along with research partners at NYU and MIT she co-designed and supervised a four-year research project for examining self-regulation with system-involved adolescent parents. She has been an adjunct professor at Teacher’s College, Columbia University and a visiting scholar at the New York University School of Nursing. Dr. Casarjian's work has been funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). To date, her investigation of the Power Source Program on the adolescent unit of Rikers Island remains the largest US study examining the impact of mindfulness with incarcerated male youth.