Maureen Riley-Behringer is a lecturer with more than 30 years of clinical social work experience with children, adolescents and families. She has taught across both undergraduate (2016–19) and graduate (2004–15, 2019–present) social work curricula and currently teaches courses in practice and policy.
In addition to teaching, Riley-Behringer maintains a private practice in Beachwood, Ohio, specializing in foster and adoptive family support following early life trauma (birth to age three), coping with chronic illness and navigating learning challenges. Her clinical background also includes work in hospice and a hospital burn ICU, serving children, youth and adults facing complex, compounding challenges.
Her academic interests center on foster and adoptive care, trauma recovery, parent decision-making and interdisciplinary team dynamics. Her research has examined how prenatal risk and early caregiving shape behavioral issues, self-regulation and stress responses in children adopted internationally. She has published in journals such as Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, Clinical Pediatrics and the Journal of Public Child Welfare, and contributed chapters to volumes on child welfare and trauma-informed care.
Riley-Behringer has supervised BSW and MSW interns, guided MSW students pursuing independent licensure, and served as a field liaison to connect students, agencies and academic programs.
Biosketch | Curriculum Vitae | Google Scholar
Why I Teach
I love being a full-time professor and a clinical social worker in private practice. This affords me the opportunity to do what I love—train the next generation of master’s-level field social workers—while my clinical skills remain timely and as relevant as possible in the practice world so I can better help prepare students with up-to-date case examples, policy issues and current ethics challenges. I believe that teaching is not just about passing on skills—it's about nurturing confidence, discipline and a love for life-long learning.
Why I Chose This Profession
I chose the field of social work because it takes into account how complex both the inner and outer worlds are of human beings. We are more than the sum of our parts. This includes the lottery of and forces of who we are born to, oppression and the strong need to be met with empathy, advocacy, respect, human rights and social justice.