Dr. Kyra Fritz received her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the University of Louisville in 2019 and M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Spalding University in 2016. Stress and mental health among police officers are her areas of expertise.
She has been a Research Associate at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) Louisville Center since 2013 and provides research support on many projects, including instrument development, data collection, qualitative and quantitative analysis, preparation of scholarly and technical reports, project management, and proposal development. Dr. Fritz has been trained in quantitative, qualitative, and geospatial analysis programs to examine historical and contemporary issues using various psychological and criminological theories.
Dr. Fritz has been an investigator on many applied police studies over the years, where she worked directly with law enforcement personnel to examine sentinel events; workplace challenges, burnout, stress, resilience, and coping behaviors among officers; community policing implementation; and police-youth interactions.
She previously worked as a mental health care provider in Kentucky, where she was responsible for leading group therapy sessions; providing individual and family outpatient therapy services; treatment planning; psychodiagnostic testing services; and preparing written reports with treatment recommendations based on assessment findings.