Olivia Best serves as Violence Prevention Supervisor in the Center for Violence Prevention at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. In this role, Olivia provides supervision and operational oversight to the case management and clinical support provided in the Violence Intervention Program.
Olivia Best serves as Violence Prevention Supervisor in the Center for Violence Prevention at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. In this role, Olivia provides supervision and operational oversight to the case management and clinical support provided in the Violence Intervention Program.
Olivia has extensive experience leading teams in trauma-informed, site- and community-based services which include crisis intervention and stabilization, residential treatment facilities, and acute inpatient care. She firmly believes that people, and families, heal in community and as providers we are charged to support people in a compassionate, least-restrictive manner that makes sense to them.
In addition to program management, Olivia is a passionate suicide prevention educator, and is a Registered ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) and QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) Trainer. She also has experience conducting preclinical research targeting the effects of stress and trauma on mechanisms of relapse to maladaptive behaviors.
MS, Villanova University (Experimental Psychology), 2019
BA, Bloomsburg University (Psychology and Philosophy), 2017
Violence Prevention Supervisor, Center for Violence Prevention
Ball, K.T., Best, O., Hagan, E., Pressimone, C., & Tosh, L. (2020). Effects of Chronic Stress on Reinstatement of Palatable Food Seeking: Sex Differences and Relationship to Trait Anxiety. Physiology & Behaviour.
Ball, K.T., Stone, E., Best, O., Collins, T., Edson, H., Hagan, E., Nardini, S., Neuciler, P., Smolinsky, M., Tosh, L., & Woodlen, K. (2018). Chronic Restraint Stress During Withdrawal Increases Vulnerability to Drug Priming-induced Cocaine Seeking via a Dopamine D1-like Receptor-mediated Mechanism. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 327-334.
Ball, K.T., Best, O., Luo, J., & Miller, L.R. (2017). Chronic Restraint Stress Causes a Delayed Increase in Responding for Palatable Food Cues During Forced Abstinence via a Dopamine D1-like Receptor-mediated Mechanism. Behavioural Brain Research, 1-8.
Ball, K.T., Miller, L.R., Sullivan, C., Wells, A., Best, O., Cavanaugh, B., Copus, T., Corrigan, N., Hawkins, S., Kobbe, K., Schoener, A., Steiger, J., & Vieweg, L. (2015). Effects of Repeated Yohimbine Administration on Reinstatement of Palatable Food Seeking: Involvement of Dopamine D1‐like Receptors and Food‐associated Cues. Addiction Biology.