Dr. Michael Asken is the psychologist for the Pennsylvania State Police where he is involved with selection and training of Troopers. He functions as the psychologist for the PSP Special Emergency Response Team where he consults with both tactical operators and crisis negotiators. He teaches and is involved with cadet performance issues at the Pennsylvania State Police Academy.
Dr. Asken is the PSP Department Psychologist and author of MindSighting: Mental Toughness Skills for Police Officers in High Stress Situations. He has written articles for Police1, SWAT Digest, The Crisis Negotiator, The Tactical Edge, Law Officer, The Bulletin of the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police, and the Firearms Instructor. He is an instructor for Top Gun undercover narcotics agent training. He has consulted with and/or provided training for the National Tactical Officers’ Association, Eastern States Vice Investigators Association, the International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors, the New England Crisis Negotiator’s Association, the FBI, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Agents, the Naval ROTC Battalion at Villanova University, Naval Special Warfare Group, The United States Postal Inspectors and the U.S. Army War College.
Mike holds a B.A. degree in Social & Behavioral Sciences from the Johns Hopkins University. He completed his doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology with a minor in Medical Psychology at West Virginia University and served his internship at the East Orange (New Jersey) Veterans’ Administration Hospital. He is a Fellow of the Division of Health Psychology of the American Psychological Association. Mike earned credentials as a Fellow and Diplomate of the American Board of Medical Psychotherapists and Diplomate of the American Board of Disability Analysts.
In relation to human performance, Mike is a Fellow of the Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology of the American Psychological Association. He taught the sport psychology course at Lebanon Valley College where he was awarded the Nevelyn Knisely Award for Inspired Teaching. He has been involved in training physicians, intensive care nurses, neonatal intensive care nurses and nurse anesthetists for twenty-five years.
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