Dr. Sharp has worked in the human services field in various professional roles in community mental health as an agency operator/owner, clinical director, and in private practice as professional counselor. His work in higher education as a counselor educator with CACREP accredited programs includes roles as full-time core faculty, CACREP liaison, clinical director, and CACREP counseling program chair. Dr. Sharp has served in higher education administration in a variety of roles that included assistant dean, associate dean and academic dean in the University of Phoenix College of Social Sciences with oversight of programs in human services, psychology, school counseling, marriage and family counseling, and clinical mental health counseling. In these administrative roles, he sat on the Regulatory Council, Scholarship Council, and Curriculum Council and engaged as a primary contributor in the development of curricula, assessment plans, and revision of social and behavioral science programs to align with industry standards. Dr. Sharp was instrumental in the development of leading edge online programs in correctional and clinical mental health counseling. He continues to provide consultation and supervision for organizations as well as counselors-in-training. As a Mental Health Facilitator (MHF) Master Trainer for the National Board for Certified Counselors – International (NBCCI), Dr. Sharp taught many volunteers and professionals to be MHF trainers including refugee camp workers in Jordan and Lebanon, educators in Southeast Asian countries, higher education faculty and first responders across the United States. He sat on the editorial board for The Professional Counselor peer-reviewed journal, and served as a volunteer fellowship and scholarship reviewer for the National Board for Certified Counselors Foundation (NBCCF).
Dr. Sharp’s formal education includes a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Utah State University, and a Master of Science and a Doctorate in Human Services with a Professional Counseling Specialization from Capella University. Dr. Sharp holds specialized credentials as an Approved Clinical Supervisor (ACS), National Certified Counselor (NCC) and is professionally licensed as a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) and Clinical Mental Health Counselor (LCMHC) in three western states. He continues to serve as mentor, advocate and counselor for marginalized groups and sits on the Board of Directors for the National Board for Certified Counselors. Dr. Sharp’s current focus is on program development and accreditation, counselor supervision, training well-prepared clinical mental health counselors to serve the global demand in counseling and human services and promoting the counseling profession worldwide. Dr. Sharp continues to travel and advocate for mental health treatment in the many underserved areas around the world.
Over the years, Dr. Sharp has worked extensively in rural areas of the United States to provide services in frontier counties where community mental health organizations were developed under his supervision and management. Services included treatment for seriously emotionally disturbed (SED) children of all ages, residential and partial hospital treatment for persistent and severely mentally ill adults, addiction treatment, work within the criminal justice systems (i.e., drug and mental health court), and supervision of integrated health teams to provide wrap-around and psychosocial rehabilitative treatments for those experiencing schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, major depressive disorder, and other chronic mental illnesses of adulthood, and SED children. He has conducted and supervised other professionals’ in-home mental health treatment strategies working with individuals and families. Presently, as a Director of Training and Internships, Dr. Sharp works with DMU counseling students in clinical placement by facilitating agreements with placement sites and in the role of Faculty Advisor throughout their program.