About Sivan

Sivan grew up on Long Island, NY and graduated from Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA in 2021 with her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. A few months later, she moved to Seattle, WA to pursue her graduate degrees in school psychology at the University of Washington. Sivan earned her EdS in 2024 and is currently working towards her PhD.

As an Israeli-American Jew, Sivan's life was changed on October 7th, 2023, after the Hamas terror attacks on southern Israel. Six weeks into her school psychology internship, she was the only mental health professional at a Jewish high school during a previously inconceivable collective trauma for the Jewish community. Her students' courage and resilience inspired her both personally and professionally, and she shifted her PhD research plans to studying resilience and wellbeing in Jewish adolescents.

In the weeks and months after October 7th, Sivan witnessed the drastic rise in antisemitism in United States, from college campuses to social media to K-12 schools. The mental health field was not immune to the epidemic of antisemitism - in fact, it was a breeding ground. The biggest outbreak she personally experienced was the demonization of Zionism (the movement for Jewish self-determination) at a dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) conference in November of 2024. Since using DBT skills to stand up to this antisemitism, Sivan has been dedicated to helping others do the same. She has presented to the Seattle-area Jewish community, the University of Washington Hillel, and Jewish mental health professionals about using DBT skills to combat antisemitism. She has also presented to school psychologists about culturally responsive practices for Jewish students.