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CHDI Staff Testifies Before Sandy Hook Commission
CHDI VP Bob Franks was one of four child trauma experts invited to present on "Addressing Trauma" before the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission on April 26. He discussed CHDI's work over the past six years to build a trauma-informed system of care in Connecticut. Through our TF-CBT initiative, CHDI has trained 519 TF-CBT providers who have treated over 2,300 children with traumatic stress. Using our EPIC trauma training module, CHDI has trained over 1,000 child health providers in the past year to screen for signs of traumatic stress. Click here to view the April 26th Sandy Hook Advisory Commission meeting.
Eric Arzubi, co-chair of Keep the Promise Children's Committee and CHDI Policy Fellow, was invited to testify in front of the Sandy Hook Commission on April 15th regarding school mental health and CHDI's School-Based Diversion Initiative. Click here to read the Hartford Courant article about it.
REACT is Highlighted
Waterbury Police Chief Riddick, Kathy Rodriquez (family partner), Marcy Kane (Wellmore Behavioral Health), Jason Lang (CHDI) and other members of the Waterbury policy department highlight the REACT model.
CHDI is testing new ways of reducing traumatic stress in children after the arrest of a parent. CHDI's REACT model is being piloted in Waterbury and was recently highlighted at a media briefing hosted by the Waterbury Police Department. For more information on REACT, click here. For our Issue Brief on this topic, click on: Issue Brief 16: Reducing Traumatic Stress in Children of Arrested Parents. To read a transcript from a WNPR radio interview Dr. Jason Lang did on the REACT program, click here.
In addition to piloting REACT in Waterbury, CHDI has partnered with the Connecticut Alliance to Benefit Law Enforcement (CABLE) to provide regional introductory REACT and CIT-Y (Crisis Intervention Team- Youth) trainings across the state. A training was held in Hartford on April 8 and 9 for police officers, EMPS mobile crisis clinicians, and child welfare workers. The one and a half day training provided resources on children's mental health and for collaborating across systems to meet the needs of children when a caregiver is arrested.
CHDI Presents at National Conferences
On April 16 Lisa Honigfeld and Brenda Balch presented at the national Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) conference in Phoenix, AZ. They discussed using hearing topics for practice-based quality improvement activities. For more information about children's hearing loss, click here.
In early March, CHDI staff, together with state and national partners, presented four papers at the 26th Annual Children's Mental Health Research & Policy Conference in Tampa, Florida:
We are pleased to announce that Yecenia Casiano recently joined CHDI as a Project Coordinator working on both the School Based Diversion Initiative (SBDI) and the Emergency Mobile Psychiatric Services (EMPS) Performance Improvement Center Projects. Yecenia has a Master's Degree in Non-Profit Management and Philanthropy and over 14 years of experience working in the human services field.
Child Health and Development Institute of CT, Inc. 860.679.1519 | info@chdi.org
Coordinator working on both the School Based Diversion Initiative (