Sean Grover, LCSW

Sean Grover, LCSW, is a psychotherapist, speaker, and author with 25 years of experience working with adults and children. He maintains one of the largest group therapy practices in the U.S. and leads over 300 groups a year in his private practice, plus workshops in clinics, medical centers, and with national mental health organizations. (Details available on Wikipedia). Sean is also an adjunct professor in the NYU Silver School of Social Work, where he teaches group therapy.

A Psychotherapist’s Journey

Sean began his clinical career as a school social worker in some of the most notorious and gang-ridden areas of New York City. Sean recalls, “My first school office was a broom closet with no windows and a broken light switch. I remember my supervisor wishing me well as she closed the door and left me in complete darkness.”

During those early years, his affinity for working with youth and connecting with their families led to the rapid expansion of his programs, supported by significant private and public funding. Sean received two awards from the New York Times Neediest Cases Fund for his innovative youth programs. An archived video interview from 2001 is available on this website. (VIDEO)

Sean has served as a mental health advisor for the Actors Fund, an adolescent expert witness for New York State Supreme Court, and as a Board member of Creative Alternatives of New York at Mt. Sinai Hospital. This program brings drama therapies to a wide range of inpatient and outpatient populations. He has also served as a Program Coordinator for Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers and a Clinical Supervisor at the Harlem Education Arts Fund. He has been a member of the Brooklyn District Attorney’s task force on youth violence, the American Group Psychotherapy Association, and the Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society.

Media Outlets

A skilled and inspiring speaker, Sean has also been interviewed and quoted in The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and New York Magazine on issues of psychotherapist training, parent-child relationships, and appeared in a live interview with the The New York Times.

Sean’s Associated Press interview, “New Book Takes On the Culture of Kids Bullying their Parents,” appeared in hundreds of national and international media outlets, including US News, The Washington Post, ABC News, NBC News, etc.

Sean’s other Associated Press interview, “Bullies: They’re Not Just in Middle School,” also appeared in national and international news media services, including ABC NEWS, Huffington Post, NPR, and Yahoo News.

Psychotherapist & Clinical Publications

Sean’s other publications include the chapter “What’s so Funny? The Group Leader’s Use of Humor in Adolescent Groups,” in the top-selling clinical volume 101 Interventions for Group Therapy (Haworth Press, 2014), a chapter in Handbook of Child & Adolescent Group Therapy (Taylor & Francis 2016), the clinical article “Separation Anxiety in Adolescence: How to Grow a Healthy Teenager” in Issues in Psychoanalytic Psychology, (Vol. 38, 2016) and “My Candle Burns at Both Ends, It Will Not Last the Night”: Psychotherapist Burnout–Causes and Cures.’ Issues in Psychoanalytic Psychology, (Vol. 40, 2018)

Sean’s parenting book, WHEN KIDS CALL THE SHOTS: How to Seize Control from Your Darling Bully and Enjoy Being a Parent Again (AMACOM Books, 2015) gathered rave reviews and received a starred review for best new non-fiction from Publishers Weekly. To date, it has been translated into Chinese, Korean, Russian, and Estonian and appears on the Book Authority’s list of 100 Best Family Books Of All Time.

Sean’s new Psychology Today blog has gathered over 11.5 million reads and continues to grow. Sean has contributed dozens of articles to blogs such as PsychCentral, Mind Body Green, Maria Shriver, and Huffington Post. Sean is also a featured guest on podcasts and radio shows.

Sean’s collection of essays, SHORTCUTS TO A HAPPIER LIFE: ESSAYS ON LIFE, LOVE, AND PARENTING is also available online.

A Psychotherapist’s Private Struggle

Sean’s one act comedy, THE TALKING CURE was produced by The New York Theater Festival in Jan. 2017 and received a nomination for BEST PLAY. THE TALKING CURE gives audiences a rare peek into the personal struggles of a psychotherapist as he wrestles with patients’ demons — and his own. A new full- length production of THE TALKING CURE is planned for Spring 2027.

Sean trained with some of the best clinicians in modern psychotherapy in the country, including a decade-long mentorship with the late Dr. Louis Ormont, the internationally renowned group therapist, and author Dr. George Weinberg, a psychotherapist and best-selling writer of over a dozen self-help books.