Mark Sturdivant recently was hired as a counselor at New River Behavioral Healthcare.

New therapist hired at New River

On the first of May, Dr. Mark Sturdivant joined the staff at New River Behavioral Healthcare, where he is employed as a child counselor.

A native of the Atlanta area, Sturdivant has lived in several locales, the most recent being Roanoke, Va. prior to his relocation to the Sparta area.

After receiving a degree in business administration from St. Andrews College in North Carolina, he pursued a master's in counseling at Appalachian State University and a doctorate in counseling at the University of Virginia.

When asked why he chose to get into the field of counseling, Sturdivant replied the reasoning dates back a number of years when he was watching the television show "MASH" in his younger years.

He said, "I noticed one of the guys that came through the MASH unit was having some mental health problems and was pretty much suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He'd been traumatized being out in the battlefield. I just remember the psychologist being there and working with him and just the dynamic in the way he worked with him. I saw that and I thought, ‘Wow, I could do that or something like it.'"

Years passed and he found himself in psychology and sociology classes in high school as he attempted to learn more about the field. Although he was unable to pursue his interest in the field during his first years in college, after receiving a bachelor's degree, the "bug" that had bitten him years prior drove him to pursue further degrees, where he became more educated in the field of counseling.

After studies at Appalachian, he was asked to select between working in a prison with offenders or with at-risk children. Choosing the latter, his first job was working at the Whitaker School, located in Butner. The school, an inpatient facility that was a branch of John Umstead Hospital, has since been "phased out," according to Sturdivant.

Recalling his experience at the school, Sturdivant stated, "It was full of kids who were state custody, those whose parents' rights had been remanded, kids who were violent verbally and physically."

Although the youth were rough around the edges, Sturdivant said it was at Whitaker School where he witnessed success stories happen.

"There were a few down at the Whitaker School that were just so physically volatile when they first came in," he remembers. "They were violent and they would target certain people. If you were doing your job, more than likely, you were a target. I was targeted sometimes.