Ashley Austin

Assistant Professor
AAustin@mail.barry.edu

Profile

Professor Austin joined the Barry University School of Social Work Faculty in 2008.  She teaches courses spanning the social work curriculum including Social Work Practice, Research and Policy courses.  She received her B.S. in psychology from the University of Florida, and her M.S.W. and Ph.D. from Florida International University.  Dr. Austin’s post-M.S.W. practice experiences consist primarily of working with vulnerable youth and families in South Florida, California, and rural Arizona.  Through her work with youth and families in home- and school-based programs, she witnessed the importance of service delivery systems that strive to eliminate barriers to treatment for vulnerable clients.  Her research interests focus on child and adolescent treatment, with a particular emphasis on addressing disparities in treatment for vulnerable subgroups of youth.  Dr. Austin’s publications are concentrated in areas of adolescent substance abuse, motivationally-based interventions, evidence-based practice and racial/ethnic treatment disparities in treatment dropout.  Dr. Austin was a recipient of the 2008 National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Early Career Social Work Research Mentoring Initiative Award.

Teaching Philosophy

Professor Austin’s approach to teaching is to create an environment which engages students in the learning process and stimulates passion for the field of social work.  She strives to facilitate student learning that goes far beyond listening and remembering, instead encouraging higher-order thinking that includes critically evaluating social work knowledge, as well as one’s own preconceived ideas and attitudes.  Her teaching style developed out of her experiences as practitioner and researcher and emphasizes: self inquiry, sharing and reflecting on how personal experiences influence social work practice; critical thinking; parallel process between instructor-student and practitioner-client; and learning as a life-long goal. 

Peer-reviewed Publications

Kaplan, S. G., Engle, B., Austin, A., & Wagner, E. (In Press).  Motivational  Interviewing in Schools.  In M. Suarez and S. Naar-King (Eds.). Motivational Interviewing with Adolescents and Families. California: Guilford Press.

Austin, A. & Wagner, E. F. (In Press).  Predictors of Treatment Attrition among Ethnic Minority Youth.  The Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions.

Wagner, E. & Austin, A.  (In Press).  Problem Solving and Social Skills Training.  In D. Springer & A. Rubin (Eds). Substance Abuse Treatment for Youths and Adults, Clinician's Guide to Evidence-Based Practice Series.  New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Wagner, E. F. & Austin, A. M. (2007). Substance use disorders in M. Hersen (Series Ed.) & D. Reitman (Volume Ed.) Handbook of Assessment, Conceptualization, and Treatment (HACT): Vol. 2. Children and Adolescents (pp. 348-365).  New York: Wiley & Sons.

Austin, A. M. & Wagner, E. F. (2006). Correlates of treatment retention among multiethnic youth with substance use problems: Initial examination of ethnic group differences.  Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse, 15(3), 105-128.

Wagner, E. F. & Austin, A. M.  (2006). Substance use disorders.  R. T. Ammerman (Vol. Ed.), Comprehensive handbook of personality and psychopathology: Vol. 4 Child psychopathology (348-366). New Jersey: Wiley.

Austin, A. M., Macgowan, M. J., & Wagner, E. F. (2005). Effective Family-Based Interventions for Adolescents with Substance Use Problems: A systematic review. Journal of Research on Social Work Practice, 15(2), 67-83.