Heidi Pihl-Buckley

Heidi Pihl-Buckley has worked in the juvenile justice field for over 35 years. Heidi has extensive experience in many different roles with youth in the care of the MA Department of Youth Services, primarily direct services. She spent 8 years as a Shift Administrator at a secure detention unit for girls and has worked in most of the programs for boys in various capacities.

Heidi served as the Director of Training for DYS in Massachusetts. She authored much of the curriculum that is currently being used to train new staff.

Heidi was the Director of Overnight Arrest Placements for the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services before retiring in 2022. In this position she oversaw the placement of youth who were arrested by the police during non-court hours and conducted informational sessions on approaches and practices for working with kids.

Additionally, Heidi served a 3-year term as a Regional Field Coordinator for the National Institute of Corrections representing the juvenile component. Using this model, Northeastern states collaborated to share resources to provide relevant training to the field. Heidi was certified by the Department of Justice as a PREA Auditor for juvenile facilities. In this role she conducted audits of facilities for compliance with the Prison Rape Elimination Act Standards.

Heidi has presented at conferences nationally on a variety of topics.