Amy Herschell | School of Social Work

Amy Herschell, Ph.D. has the privilege and responsibility of serving as the Principal Investigator of Pennsylvania’s Child Welfare Education and Research Programs where she leads teams in Pittsburgh and Mechanicsburg to support professional education, training, technical assistance, policy to practice, and organizational development programs for the child welfare workforce. These programs are a collaborative effort among the federal Administration for Children and Families, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, the Pennsylvania Children and Youth Administrators, and 21 schools of social work across Pennsylvania. Dr. Herschell is also a Clinical Professor in the School of Social Work where her clinical interests focus on collaboratively developing high quality, community-based care for children and their families. She has served as the Principal or Co-Principal Investigator for several federally funded grants (e.g., NIMH, CDC, SAMHSA, HRSA) and has published extensively on topics related to child welfare, workforce development, children’s behavioral health, implementation science, and evidence-based practices.

Research Interests

Child Welfare Workforce Development
Implementation Science
Mental Health Services Research
Community-Engaged Participatory Research

Selected Publications

Herschell, A. D., Kolko, D. J., Hart, J., Brabson, L. A., & Gavin, J. (2020). Mixed method study of workforce turnover and evidence-based treatment implementation in community behavioral health care settings. Child Abuse and Neglect, 102, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104419

Hutchison, S. L., Herschell, A. D., Clauss, K., Hovorka, K., Wasilchak, D., & Hurford, M. (2021). Payer-provider partnership to identify successful retention strategies for the behavioral health workforce. Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action, 15(2), 151-160. https://doi:10.1353/cpr.2021.0018

Jackson, C., Herschell, A. D., Scudder, A. B., Hart, J. Schaffner, K. F., Kolko, D. J., & Mrozowski, S. J. (2021). Making implementation last: The impact of training design on the sustainability of an evidence-based treatment in a randomized controlled trial. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 48, 757-767. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-021-01126-6

Herschell, A. D., Shaffer, S. A., Wallace, N. M., Maise, A. A., Schaffner, K. F., McNeil, C. B., Dotson, P., & Johnson, V. J. (2021). Hybrid implementation effectiveness trial: Home-Based intensive family coaching to improve outcomes for Medicaid-enrolled preschoolers. Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 6(2), 246-261. https://doi.org/10.1080/23794925.2021.1908191

Herschell, A. D., Schake, P. L., Hutchison, S. L., Karpov, I. O., Gavin, J. G., Crisan, T. B., & Wasilchak, D. S. (2021). Evaluating the effectiveness of a statewide school-based behavioral health program for rural and urban elementary-aged students. School Mental Health, 13(4), 743-755. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-021-09441-x

Herschell, A. D., Kolko, D. J., Scudder, A. T., Taber-Thomas, S. Schaffner, K. Hart, J. A., Mrozowski, S., Hiegel, S. A., Iyengar, S., Metzger, A., & Jackson, C. B. (2021). A Statewide Randomized Controlled Trial to Compare Three Models for Implementing Parent Child Interaction Therapy. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 52(6) 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2021.2001745

Minnich, C. L, Stehley, F. J., Bills, L. J., Taylor, R. M., Groff, J. L., Korney, J. M., Skrzypek, B. E., Hutchison, S. L., & Herschell A. D. (2022). Lessons learned implementing a trauma-informed system of care in rural communities. Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education and Action, 17(3), 495-501. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37934447/

Snider, M. D., Taylor, R. M., Bills, L. J., Hutchison, S. L., Steinman, S. A., & Herschell A. D. (2023). Implementing trauma-informed care through a learning collaborative: A theory-driven analysis of sustainability over three years. Community Mental Health Journal, 59(5), 881-893. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-022-01072-z

Herschell, A. D., Schuster, J. M., Keyser, D., Wasilchak, D. S., Neimark, G. B., Shaffer, S. L., & Hurford, M. O. (2023). Human services and behavioral health integration: A model for accelerating the transition to whole person Medicaid managed care. Psychiatric Services, 74(9)901-1007. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.20220478

Bills, L. J., Hutchison, S. L., Snider, M. D. H, Skrzypek, B. E., Minnich, C. L., Korney, J. M., Taylor, R. M., & Herschell, A. D. (2023). System-level implementation of trauma-informed care: An analysis of outcomes. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 36(2), 255-473. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22931

Hutchison, S. L., Taylor, R., Herschell, A. D., Beeferman, D., Nicholson, R., Karpov, I., & Miller, W. N. (2024). Key Issues in the first year of transition for a large Medicaid-funded children’s service. Community Mental Health Journal, 60(3), 504-514. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-023-01201-2

Edelsohn, G. A., Herschell, A. D., Walker, M. L., & Schake, P. L. (2024). Using a learning collaborative approach to improve youth psychiatric residential treatment. Residential Treatment for Children & Youth, 42(1), 99-123. https://doi.org/10.1080/0886571X.2024.2319750

Herschell, A. D., Hutchison, S. L., Jones, C. W., Simms, S., Johnston, P.A., & Karpov, I. O. (2024). Evaluating readmission rates for a statewide in-home eco-systemic family-based treatment program for youth with serious emotional disturbance. Community Mental Health Journal, 60(7), 1385-1398. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-024-01295-2

Quetsch, L.B., Brabson, L., Herschell, A. D., Poe, S., McNeil, C. B., & Schaffner, K. (2024). Evaluating a free, common-elements curriculum for childhood disruptive behaviors: Family Interaction Training. Journal of Rural Mental Health. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/rmh0000252

Jackson, C. B., Herschell, A. D., Taber-Thomas, S., Scudder, A. B., Hart, J., Schaffner, K. F., Kolko, D. J., Mrozowski, S. J. & Snider, M.D. H. (2024). Organizational mediators of sustainability in a randomized controlled trial. Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health. 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/23794925.2024.2392230