IFCI Fellows
Benjamin W. Kearney, Ph.D. is Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer at OhioGuidestone. Dr. Kearney is a licensed psychologist and a professional clinical counselor, having received his bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College and his doctorate degree from Cleveland State University. Ben also holds a post-doctoral certificate in psycho-pharmacology from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale-Davie, Florida.
Ben serves as a consultant for private and community mental health agencies throughout Ohio. He has been instrumental in advocating for clients’ behavioral and mental health needs, and he has provided a multitude of trainings on child and adolescent behavioral and mental health related topics to raise awareness and understanding on a local and state level. He most recently facilitated statewide training programs on toxic stress in children, and leveraging joyful play between caregivers and children to increase resiliency to respond to and prevent toxic stress.
Dr. Kearney is the senior fellow of The Institute of Family and Community Impact, an OhioGuidestone initiative that translates science into clinical best practices, trainings and public policy advocacy. The Institute has published multiple books and manuals that Dr. Kearney co-authored or served as the series editor, including “Building Together: How Relationships Make Families and Communities More Resilient.” “Building Together” lays the groundwork for all of The Institutes research initiatives, public policy and advocacy work, and products; as well as drives OhioGuidestone’s clinical direction.
Brittany R. Pope is the Director of Applied Clinical Science at OhioGuidestone and a Research Fellow with The Institute for Family and Community Impact where she engineers the translation of research and integration of clinical sciences and other applied disciplines into practical applications across the agency to leverage performance improvement and deliver greater impact for children, families and communities. Brittany is the lead researcher and evaluator on internal protocols from early childhood, parent-child relationships, to youth residential care. Current protocols include those examining a novel research-based model that builds childhood resiliency and reduces toxic stress in children by enhancing parent-child and educator-student relationships with joyful play. Additionally she is orchestrating efforts to validate a newly created paternal postpartum depression screening tool. Brittany facilitates integration of evaluation, research, policy, training and practice. Brittany serves on the Association of Children’s Residential Centers’ Board of Directors members as an Advisor for the Implementation of Evidence Based Practices and Public Policy Co-Chair. She is full of passion and serves as a voice for children, teens and families through both community and professional endeavors. Brittany is a double alumna of Case Western Reserve University and lives in Cleveland, OH with her wonderful husband and two miracle daughters.
Holli Ritzenthaler, MSSA, LISW-S is the Assistant Vice President of Community Counseling at OhioGuidestone where she manages all child and adolescent community counseling programs in Cuyahoga County. Holli oversees centralized intake and assessment, the operationalization of the PLAY Project for children with Autism and Intensive Home-Based Treatment. Holli also directs the highly specialized Early Childhood Mental Health program, which incorporates cutting edge research and innovation into work with children birth to 6 years old and their families that have been impacted by trauma and toxic stress. Holli further contributes her 15 years of clinical and 10 years of leadership experience as a clinical fellow with OhioGuidestone’s Institute of Family and Community Impact. As a clinical fellow she is a co-investigator on research protocols evaluating programs and tools that directly impact childhood and family outcomes, and co-author of a neuroscience-based intervention to increase childhood resilience and improve relationships in families. She also serves as the Chair of the Northeast Chapter of the Ohio Association for Infant Mental Health. Holli earned her Master of Science in Social Administration degree from Case Western Reserve University and holds the Ohio ECMH Consultant Credential from the Ohio Department of Education.
Reinhild Boehme, LISW-S is the Assistant Director for Clinical Impact and Innovation at OhioGuidestone and a clinical fellow at the agency’s Institute of Family and Community Impact. Regarded as an expert in Trauma-Informed Care and community-based mental health, Reinhild brings substantial experience in clinical practice with diverse populations and the supervision of multi-disciplinary staff. Significant contributions include authoring the Institute of Family and Community Impact’s clinical treatment and intervention manuals, adapting evidence-based practices to the community mental health setting, as well as the creation of the Institute’s innovative CBT Plus model. A skilled and experienced trainer and public speaker, Reinhild developed OhioGuidestone’s Trauma Informed Care Training and Certification program and is frequently requested as a speaker on issues of mental health treatment. Further accomplishments include contributions to the literature on the use of imagery in mental health treatment. In addition to her work with OhioGuidestone, she serves as a part-time instructor in the Social Work Department at Cleveland State University, sharing her clinical proficiency and experience with practitioners in-training. Both her work and her worldview are significantly informed by her experience as a mother and as a proud immigrant, negotiating and navigating two cultural identities. As such, she is passionate about amplifying the voices and experience of migrant and immigrant people in mental health treatment and evidence-based practices. Reinhild received her Master’s Degree in Social Work from Widener University and her Master’s Degree in Religion from Temple University and is a Licensed Independent Social Worker with supervisory endorsement.
Cristian Shofar, LPCC-S, is a supervisor of Outpatient Counseling Services within the Cuyahoga County Community Counseling department at OhioGuidestone and a clinical fellow with the Institute of Family and Community Impact (IFCI). Cristian is a graduate of The Ohio State University with a Master’s of Arts in Counseling Education: Clinical Specialty. He is the project manager for Story Building Therapy at IFCI, as well as co-facilitates training and consultation for Story Building Therapy. As a clinician, Cristian has completed certified specialized training in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TFCBT), as well as Multisystemic Therapy.
Whitney Yoder, MSc– is a Quality Data Analyst at OhioGuidestone and Research Fellow with the Institute of Family and Community Impact. Whitney has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s Degree in Methodology and Statistics for the Biomedical, Behavioral, and Social Sciences. Whitney aims to enhance mental health care by informing policies and practices through applied research and data insights. Whitney has participated in collaborative research programs at the Department of Psycho-oncology at the Institute of European Oncology in Milan, Italy and with the Dutch-Flemish PROMIS (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) group in Amsterdam, Netherlands where she focused on cross-culturally validating clinical instruments (i.e. patient quality of life, sleep related impairment, and sleep disturbance) that are used to enhance patient-doctor communication and medical decision-making. She also worked as a junior researcher at the University of Amsterdam where she researched different approaches to improve randomized clinical trial methodology for small population research, specifically in the field of psychology. From her experiences, Whitney believes in using data responsibly and with integrity to tell stories and drive decision-making. At OhioGuidestone Whitney works with our clinical management to continuously improve program evaluation including how we measure and report the long-term clinical impact of our programs.
Rose Frech, MSSA– Advocacy & Public Policy Fellow
Rebecca Nappi, MSSA LISW– Clinical Fellow
Lisa Potoma, MS– Evaluation Fellow
IFCI Strategic & Development Team
Jonathan Miller– OhioGuidestone, Vice President of Business Development
Trinity Hinton- OhioGuidestone, Web Developer
IFCI Content Contributors
Michael D’Agostino, BA– IFCI Site Assistant Content Editor and Research Assistant
Kristen Mitzel, MS– Research Assistant
