Do Gangs, Jails, and Prisons Have Their Own Culture: Cultural Sensitivity in Agency Practice (Self-Study)

Mardoche Sidor, MD is a quadruple board certified psychiatrist, with board certifications in Psychiatry and Neurology (General Adult Psychiatry), Child and Adolescent, Addiction, and Forensic, Psychiatry. He has training in public and community psychiatry, psychopharmacology and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. He also has training in Motivational Interviewing, psychodynamic psychotherapy, play therapy, and family and couples therapy. He has clinical, teaching, and supervision experience; he has mentorship, coaching, and management, skills; and he has experience as a primary care physician, in public speaking and writing. Dr. Sidor also has skills in leadership, research, program development and project management. His overall goal is to help all health professionals, throughout the United States and globally, access the tools they need to feel empowered to provide excellent patient care while also promoting their own self-care and burnout prevention. He is the main facilitator for the SWEET Institute, and he is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University.Dr. Sidor was recently the Medical Director and Chief Medical Officer for CASES (Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services) where he continues to provide psychiatric care. He speaks and writes fluently in four (4) languages—French, English, Spanish, and Creole, with intermediate proficiency in Portuguese and Italian.

Karen Dubin-McKnight, PhD, LCSW, has wide clinical, teaching, supervision and mentorship experience that spans 18 years. She also has a vast experience working in the criminal justice system, in community mental health, in teaching, and in management. Her added passion is in education, coaching, public relations, and mediation. Her goal is to ensure that social workers and other non-medical practitioners feel empowered and have a voice “at the table.” Dr. Dubin-McKnight is the co-facilitator for the SWEET Institute. She was most recently the Court Operations Director at CASES. She is currently Adjunct Faculty at Columbia University School of Social Work and Adelphi University School of Social Work. She is also a trainer at the CUCS Academy, and Howie T. Harp. She has a private practice for people impacted by loss and trauma and also provides clinical supervision.