Biography
Teri Kistler has been a member of the Penn State Lehigh Valley faculty since 2014, serving as Program Coordinator for Rehabilitation and Human Services. She is now also a lecturer at Penn State Abington. She brings over two decades of professional experience in the behavioral health field to her teaching and program leadership.
Prior to her academic career, Ms. Kistler worked extensively in adolescent and adult behavioral health settings, including residential addiction treatment programs, outpatient services, and children's inpatient and partial hospitalization psychiatric services. For over 22 years, Ms. Kistler was dedicated to helping those struggling with substance use disorders and co-occuring disorders. She specialized in conducting clinical assessments for individuals seeking treatment and facilitated psychoeducational groups for adolescents involved with the juvenile justice system. Her work experience also included working with adult who experienced a traumatic brain injury, providing both direct support and rehabilitative services and educating middle school and high school teachers and staff and community members and families on addiction and recovery.
Ms. Kistler earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Edinboro University and her Master of Social Work from Marywood University. As a faculty member at Penn State Lehigh Valley, she currently teaches a range of undergraduate courses in the Rehabilitation and Human Services (RHS) program: Introduction to Rehabilitation and Human Services, Case Management and Communication Skills, Group Work, Community Mental Health and Practice, Children and Family in Rehabilitation and Human Services, re-Internship Preparation, and supervision of RHS student interns working in the community. She also teaches courses for the Certificate in Chemical Dependency Prevention and Counseling: Drugs, Behavioral and Health, Foundations of Chemical Dependency Counseling and Chemical Dependency: Youth at Risk.