Andrew Malekoff

Andrew Malekoff was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1951. Following his graduation from Columbia High School in 1969, in Maplewood, NJ, he attended Rutgers University where he majored in economics and was captain of the 1972 Scarlet Knights football team. He also wrestled and played lacrosse and rugby at Rutgers. After graduating with a BA from Rutgers in 1973, he moved to Grand Island, Nebraska to work in VISTA - Volunteers in Service to America. He also worked as a drug counselor in Grand Island. Malekoff left Nebraska in 1976 to attend the Adelphi University School of Social Work. He graduated with an MSW in 1978 and was then employed by North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center (NSC&FGC), the pre-eminent children's mental health agency on Long Island, NY. Malekoff has been with NSC&FGC ever since, almost 40 years. He was named executive director and CEO of the organization in January 2007. He is a staunch advocate against the stigma associated with mental illness. In addition to being a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Malekoff is a Credentialed Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counselor (CASAC) Emeritus. A prolific writer, he is editor-in-chief of Social Work with Groups, a journal of community and clinical practice. He has been editor since 1990. Malekoff is the author of hundreds of publications (books, monographs, articles, book chapters, essays, op-ed pieces, and poetry) including the internationally-acclaimed textbook Group Work with Adolescents: Principles and Practice (Guilford Press), first published in 1997 and now in its third edition (2014). He has written a montly column for the Anton Newspapers since 2007. He lives in Long Beach, NY with his wife Dale, a high school art teacher. They have two sons.