Wendy P. Guastaferro is a Professor and the Director of the School of Criminology & Criminal Justice. Her research centers on effective behavioral health (primarily substance abuse and mental health) treatments and policies within community, jail, and prison settings. Dr. Guastaferro’s current projects include a quasi-experimental study looking at the effect of implementing a cognitive behavioral intervention focused on family relationships, centered in family treatment courts. She is co-PI on this study, funded by the US HHS Administration for Children and Families, 5-year, $2.6 million grant.
Dr. Guastaferro is the PI on a study of an intervention focused on disrupting pathways to extremist and targeted violence and early engagement funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Science & Technology Directorate. She is collaborating with Dr. Heather Howard (Sandler School of Social Work, FAU) to study the impact of housing, services, and peer support for individuals involved in the criminal legal system who have an opioid use disorder. This study is in collaboration with Palm Beach County Community Services, Rebel Recovery, and the Southeast Florida Behavioral Health Network and funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (US DOJ).
Previous research studies include implementation and evaluation of parenting, trauma-care services. Dr. Guastaferro is an editorial board member for Health & Justice, a Springer Nature peer-reviewed journal. She is a member of Impact 100 Palm Beach County that connects, engages, and inspires women to improve our community by collectively funding multiple grants to nonprofits that implement high-impact initiatives in southern Palm Beach County.
Dr. Guastaferro’s work has been published in Substance Use & Misuse, Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, the International Journal of Offender Treatment and Comparative Criminology, and the Journal of Interpersonal Violence. She teaches courses in criminal justice policy, health and justice, courts, and program evaluation.
