Press Release
May 1, 2007
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Contact: Kaylyn Kendall Dines
Phone: (973) 972-3000
dineskd@umdnj.edu
Opportunity for School Systems to Help Youth in the Aftermath of Tragedy
- UMDNJ Hosts Post Traumatic Stress Management Training in May, June -
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PISCATAWAY—When car accidents, illness, suicide, homicide or mass casualties occur, what should be done in the aftermath of tragedy to help youth cope with the devastating psychological impact of death?
Strategies for compassionate and effective responses to crisis will be provided during a Post Traumatic Stress Management Training that is being coordinated through the Traumatic Loss Coalitions for Youth program (TLC) at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The TLC, which is part of UMDNJ’s University Behavioral HealthCare, will hold the training that allows each participant to attend three full-day workshops at the Ramada Inn, East Hanover on May 21, 22, and 23 with two advance-training sessions on June 20 and June 27.
According to Donna Amundson, director of the TLC at UMDNJ's University Behavioral HealthCare, the dual mission of the Traumatic Loss Coalition is suicide prevention and school trauma response. During the Post Traumatic Stress Management Training, intervention strategies for youth will be shared including lessons on conducting post trauma impact and needs assessment, leading orientation sessions, stabilization groups, and coping groups.
"Tragedy has a way of reverberating throughout the community and within the school system," said Amundson. "By offering the Post Traumatic Stress Management Training, the Traumatic Loss Coalitions for Youth program will assist schools as they take proactive steps towards helping children cope and heal."
During the workshop, state-of-the-art approaches will be highlighted by Dr. Robert Macy, the founder and executive director of the Center for Trauma Psychology in Boston. Participants will receive basic certification training in PTSM during the first three days. The remaining two advance training workshops will cover suicide response protocols as well as homicide and gang violence response protocols.
Dr. Macy is also the Co-Director of a Category III National Center for Child Traumatic Stress Network site in Boston. He is also the founder and executive director of The Children's Trauma Recovery Foundation, also in Boston. In addition, Dr. Macy is a consultant to the National Department of Education - Office of Primary and Secondary Education. He is a pioneer in the field of Traumatic Incident Stress Interventions for youth, families and communities exposed to traumatic events including large-scale disasters and violence. He designs, implements and evaluates traumatic stress reduction programs nationally and internationally.
The registration fee of $190 will cover the cost of five full-day workshops and materials for the Post Traumatic Stress Management Training. For more information, call the UMDNJ-University Behavioral HealthCare's Traumatic Loss Coalition at 732-235-2810. Or, visit http://ubhc.umdnj.edu/brti/TLC.htm.
Members of the media interested in covering the trainings should contact Kaylyn Kendall Dines at (973) 972-3000.
UMDNJ is the nation's largest free-standing public health sciences university with more than 5,700 students attending the state's three medical schools, its only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a school of health related professions, a school of nursing and a school of public health on five campuses. Annually, there are more than two million patient visits at UMDNJ facilities and faculty practices at campuses in Newark, New Brunswick/Piscataway, Scotch Plains, Camden and Stratford. UMDNJ operates University Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center in Newark, and University Behavioral HealthCare, a statewide mental health and addiction services network.
