About Us

Dr. Bob Kifer is a licensed psychologist specializing in social skills and developmental disabilities.  He has been involved in children’s social skills training since his graduate school days at the University of Kansas, then one of the premier graduate programs in applied behavior analysis.  While at Kansas, he studied under Montrose Wolf, Donald Baer, Todd Risley, and many other international experts in this field.  Dr. Kifer’s Master’s Thesis on social skills training was published as the lead article in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (Fall,1974).

Dr. Kifer earned his doctoral degree in Developmental and Child Psychology at the University of Kansas in 1976.  During a post-doctoral internship, Dr. Kifer worked closely with Dr. Jan Roosa, a pioneer in the field of personal and interpersonal competence development.

Dr. Kifer worked at Sagamore Children’s Psychiatric Center from 1976 to 1985. He began as a staff psychologist and group home coordinator.  While maintaining his role as group home coordinator, Dr. Kifer also served as Director of the Psychology Department, Director of Staff Education and Training, and Director of Autism Services. The group home program he implemented and supervised won the New York State Office of Mental Health Outstanding Program and Service Award in 1983.   

Since 1985, Dr. Kifer has worked for Western Suffolk BOCES, and is a co-founder of their Applied Behavior Analysis special education program. In 1986, he co-founded the pioneering Social Skills Group Program at the Institute for Behavioral Health, and has been working to further refine this approach and train others in its use, while maintaining its high quality as measured by the parents of the children it serves. 

Ronda Brooks is a licensed clinical social worker. She received a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and a Master's Degree in Social Work from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She worked at Sagamore Children's Psychiatric Center from 1980 to 1985 where she met Dr. Kaufman and Dr. Kifer. Following that, she was employed as a School Social Worker in the Brentwood School District. She worked with children in groups and individually from pre-school through high school. She recently retired after 25 years of service in Brentwood.

In 1987, Ms. Brooks completed a training program at the Suffolk County Institute for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy run by Dr. James Gibson and Bob O'Connor, CSW. She completed the Alcoholism Training Program for Health Care Providers at the South Oaks Institute of Alcoholism and Addictive Studies in 1990. She has been a Field Placement instructor for the SUNY Stony Brook School of Social Welfare since 1991. In 1999, Ms. Brooks became certified in Disaster Mental Health Service through the American Red Cross.

Ms. Brooks is a member of the National Association of Social Workers since 1985 and a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers since 1988.

Ms. Brooks began leading Social Skills groups at the Institute for Behavioral Health in 2007 after completing a practicum with Dr. Kifer. Upon Dr. Kaufman's retirement in 2010, Ms. Brooks and Dr. Kifer established Behavioral Health Services  where they continue to offer many of the same programs.