Leading Stories, Articles
Outreach program assists children exposed to trauma
By Catherine Robertson Souter
Realizing that more must be done to reach out to children who have witnessed traumatic events, representatives from several agencies joined in Manchester NH to craft a unique outreach program. Launched two years ago, ACERT, or the Adverse Childhood Experiences Response Team, has experienced some amazing results. Several times each week, a member of the Manchester Police Department, a crisis service advocate from the Manchester YWCA and a community health worker from the Manchester Community Health Center (MCHC) head out to knock on doors of homes where children were exposed to trauma. The plan, said program founding partner Lara Quiroga, [More]
Tags: children, trauma, sexual assault, New Hampshire, suicide, drug use, traumatic events, ACERT, domestic incidents, overdose
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The power of hard stories
By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.
As I sat listening to a discussion on the topic of writing hard stories at the recent Newburyport literary festival, I thought of my colleagues in psychology and wished you could hear the message the panel came to deliver. Perhaps some of you were in the audience and heard what the presenters had to say, but for those of you who had better things to do on a springtime Saturday, this one is for you. Psychologists, like writers, are all about the story. When we listen to our patients telling us about the challenges in their lives, we are listening [More]
Tags: psychologists, trauma, patients, listening, stories, reflection, truth, facts, hard stories, art, writing
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Trauma training, reality TV all in a day’s work for Jessica Griffin, Psy.D
By Catherine Robertson Souter
When a television producer first asked Jessica Griffin, PsyD, if she would consider taking an on-air consultant role on an upcoming reality show, she scoffed at the idea. An associate professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at UMass Medical School and executive director of UMASS Medical School’s Child Trauma Training Center with a private clinical practice in the Worcester area, Griffin did not see herself as the reality-show type. Still, with some prodding from Hollywood and much discussion with colleagues, friends and family, Griffin decided to jump in. She first served as a consulting psychologist on the show, “Seven Year Switch,” [More]
Tags: Jessica Griffin PsyD, Linked Kids, Married at First Sight, Lifetime, Catherine Robertson Souter, trauma, traumatization, resilience, psychological training, communication skills
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