Bridget Freisthler, PhD
Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development
Dr. Freisthler’s expertise is in studying how substance use affects parenting, particularly child abuse and neglect. Her research focuses on how drinking and drug use contexts (e.g., where a person drinks or uses drugs) affect abusive and neglectful parenting practices. She uses geographic information systems (GIS; mapping) to identify those contexts and to develop preventive interventions. She is particularly interested in how the substance use environment (e.g., alcohol outlet and medical marijuana dispensaries) is related to a variety of harms, such as child maltreatment. She is currently focusing efforts on reducing child maltreatment among families misusing opioids.
Project: Co Principal Investigator
Katie Maguire-Jack, PhD
Associate Professor
Dr. Maguire-Jack conducts research on child abuse and neglect prevention, with an emphasis on the ways in which communities can support parents. She has expertise in program evaluation, needs assessment, racial disparities in child maltreatment, and risk and protective factors for child maltreatment. She focuses on understanding geographic disparities in maltreatment rates and the ways in which neighborhood structural characteristics and relationships between neighbors affect those rates.
Project: Co Principal Investigator
Ashley Bennett, MSW, LSW
Ashley is a graduate of The Ohio State University College of Social Work. She has experience working with families in crises as well as serving youth and adolescents who have lethality worries as a result of trauma or mental health concern. She advocates for children and families to receive the mental health treatment they need and deserve. She is an active volunteer as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for her community. She works along side children who are placed in out-of-home care due to child welfare involvement. She strives to be the voice of the children and act in their best interest. She collaborates with caseworkers, legal representatives, judges, law enforcement, and families to help children. In addition, Ashley is one of the developers of the Opioid Overdose Family Support Toolkit.
Project: Project Director