Travis Hales

Dr. Travis Hales is an Assistant Professor within the University of North Carolina Charlotte School of Social Work. Dr. Hales serves as Principal Investigator for the studies entitled ‘Examination of Opioid and Drug-Related Deaths on Addiction Provider Well-Being and Performance’, ‘Evaluation of the Child-Development, Community-Policing Program’, and the ‘Administrative Data Analysis of The Addiction Center of Broome County, Inc.’; Co-Principal Investigator of ‘The Mecklenburg Opioid Systemic Response Plan’; and Co-Investigator of the ‘Evaluation of the Supportive Housing Innovative Project (SHIP)’. His areas of interest are developing systemic therapeutic interventions for persons with substance use disorders, developing an evidence-base for trauma-informed organizations, and examining the psychological impact of clinical social work, with an emphasis on risk and protective factors for experiencing burnout, fatigue, and developing therapeutic alliance. Dr. Hales’ teaching interests involve social work practice and program evaluation, research, and organizational culture, structure, and climate.

Education

  • B.A. SUNY Fredonia, 2012, English and Philosophy
  • M.S.W. University at Buffalo, 2014
  • Ph.D. University at Buffalo, 2018, Social Welfare

Teaching

  • Advanced Social Work Practice with Organizations and Communities I and II
  • Practice and Program Evaluation
  • Social Work Research

Research Interests/Areas of Expertise

  • Systemic interventions for the treatment of substance use disorders
  • Developing the evidence-based for trauma-informed organizational approaches
  • Examining the impact of the opioid pandemic on addiction therapist well-being and burnout

Awards & Honors

  • Buffalo Center for Social Research’s Excellence in Research Award
  • Andrew J. Laughlin Memorial Award
  • School of Social Work Alumni Association Award
  • Niles Carpenter Award

Community Involvement

  • Partnership with the Addiction Center of Broome County, Inc.
  • Partnership with the Child-Development Community Policing Program
  • Partnership with the Supportive Housing Innovative Project (SHIP), a collaboration between the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services and the Salvation Army
  • Partnership with Mecklenburg County Criminal Justice Services and the Forensic Evaluations Unit
  • Member: Mecklenburg County Substance Use Disorder Task Force
  • Affiliate: University at Buffalo’s Institute on Trauma and Trauma-Informed Care (ITTIC)
  • Affiliate: Academy of Population Health Innovations (APHI)
  • Affiliate: UNC Charlotte School of Data Science
  • Peer-reviewer: Society for Social Work Research
  • Peer-reviewer: Human Services Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance

Selected Publications

  • Hales, T., & Nochajski, T. H. (2019). A structural regression analysis of trauma-informedclimate factors, organizational commitment, and burnout among behavioral healthcare providers in a large public hospital. Journal of Community Psychology. doi: 10.1002/jcop.22292
  • Hales, T., Green, S. A., Bisonnette, S., Warden, A., Diebold, J., Koury, S. P., & Nochajski, T. H. (2019). Trauma-informed care outcome study. Research on Social Work Practice, 29, 529-539. doi: 10.1177/1049731518766618
  • Hales, T., Kusmaul, N., Sundborg, S., & Nochajski, T. H. (2019). The Trauma-Informed Climate Scale-10 (TICS-10): A measure of staff perceptions of the service environment. Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership, & Governance, 43, 5, 443-453. doi: 10.1080/23303131.2019.1671928
  • Hales, T., Kusmaul, N., & Nochajski, T. H. (2017). Exploring the dimensionality of trauma-informed care: Implications for theory and practice. Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance, 41, 317-325. doi: 10.1080/23303131.2016.1268988
  • Krause, D. J., Green, S. A., Koury, S., & Hales, T. (2017). Solution-focused trauma-informed care: An integration of models. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 12, 2, 117-135. doi: 10.1080/15548732.2017.1348312