Traumatic Loss Coalitions for Youth Program (TLC)
State Report
October 2008
is dedicated to excellence in suicide prevention
and in providing a collaborative and coordinated
mental health response to a global or community
crisis affecting our school-age youth.
Mission
To accomplish our mission:
The TLC supports county coalitions bringing together educators, mental health providers,
law enforcement personnel, members of community agencies and faith-based
organizations to share knowledge, ideas, and experiences and create trauma response
networks and lead response teams in each county.
Summary October 2007-September 2008
The Traumatic Loss Coalitions for Youth Program (TLC) continues to fulfill its dual
mission of trauma response following critical incidents affecting school-age children as
well as youth suicide prevention through its unique state-wide infrastructure. The County
Coordinators are the conduit in each county and report to the Central Administrative
Team who provides training, administrative support and technical assistance. This
infrastructure enables those working in various settings with school-age youth to receive:
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An interactive State-wide Network
Traumatic Loss Postvention Consultation and Response
Resiliency Enhancement
Professional Development
State-wide Training and Conferences
Trauma Response
Providing a collaborative and coordinated mental health response to a global or
community crisis affecting youth is an important mission of the Traumatic Loss
Coalitions for Youth Program. To continue to fulfill this mission, the TLC has been
working diligently on training school crisis teams and community mental health
clinicians throughout the state. This year training was concentrated in the southern
region of the state. To provide consistency in trauma response, the TLC has adopted the
Post Traumatic Stress Management (PTSM) Model originated by Robert D. Macy,
PhD. This training has been offered in the past in the northern and central regions. The
southern region training was held on January 23, 24, 25, 2008 at the Cumberland County
College in Vineland.
There were 107 individuals from the southern counties trained in the Certified PTSM 3Day Training this year. This number substantially exceeded the TLC’s Annex A target
goal of 50 participants. In addition, 75 of those who received this certified training also
received a One-Day Advanced Training in Suicide Protocol, and 70 also received a OneDay Advanced Training in Homicide and Gang Violence Protocol. The number of
attendees at the advanced trainings again exceeded the target goal of 50 participants.
From September 2005 through September 2008, 409 individuals completed the Certified
PTSM 3-day training. There were 243 who attended the Advanced Training in Suicide
Protocol and 207 who attended the Advanced Training in Homicide and Gang Violence
Protocol. These individuals are now part of the TLC’s State-wide Trauma Response
Network (TRN).
The TLC Coordinators statewide have identified individuals from the above cadre of
trainees to become part of their county Lead Response Teams (LRT). There are now 21
counties with working LRTs, meeting the projected goal for this year. These LRTs are
ready to assist schools and communities in the recovery stage following a critical
incident. These teams can assist schools in several different ways: they can take the lead
and provide a trauma response; they can work alongside the local crisis management
teams; they can provide behind the scenes coaching on or off site, and they can provide
care for the care givers by debriefing the crisis teams following a critical incident
response. This year the LRTs provided 1,000 hours of PTSM intervention in schools
and communities. In addition, the TLC Central Administrative Team provided 30.5
PTSM response hours, bringing the total to 1,030.5 hours of PTSM intervention to
schools and communities in the past year. The Coordinators were personally involved in
498.5 of these hours demonstrating their commitment to trauma response and their
willingness to work side by side with their teams. The interventions provided were varied
depending on the need of the school or community. The interventions included planning
and debriefing meetings with administration and faculty, stabilization and coping groups
with youth, faculty, and parents, telephone consultation and support to school crisis
teams, and individual psychological first aid with students, faculty and parents. There
were 7,373 youth and adults who received PTSM intervention this year.
Feedback from affected schools, communities and families consistently reflects gratitude
for the TLC’s assistance and highlights the knowledge, professionalism, and compassion
of the responders. The following is an excerpt from a letter written by a principal
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following a coordinator’s response: “I want to thank you tremendously for the work you
and your staff provided to our school community. I felt like my prayers were answered
when you arrived. Your work with my faculty and students, as well as with the family
minimized the feelings of guilt and despair. I thank you very much for this.”
The TLC Coordinators have been working diligently with their LRTs by involving them
in periodic meetings that promote skill-building and self-care as well as creating a sense
of trust and camaraderie in the group. These are vital elements in building and
maintaining a well trained and healthy team. The Coordinators apprise the Central
Administrative Team of the requests for LRT assistance and after gathering the pertinent
information, they work together to develop the appropriate intervention. TLC Central
Team remains available during the response to offer support and technical assistance. ,
Trauma responses are subsequently reviewed in the monthly regional Coordinator
meetings where lessons learned are extracted and discussed, helping the Coordinators to
continue to refine their skills. These measures ensure the tenets of the PTSM are adhered
to in a consistent manner. The TLC Coordinators also follow up with the schools at 1
week, 1 month, 6 months and 1 year postvention to provide a continuity of care to the
consultancies during these critical intervals.
In addition to receiving Certified PTSM 3-Day and Advanced training, LRT members
have been encouraged to become credentialed as Crisis Counselors through the New
Jersey Division of Mental Health - Disaster and Terrorism Branch. The additional
training provided by the Division enables them to participate in state-declared disasters if
their services are requested.
Due to an increasing demand for services, the TLC Central Administrative Team has
continued to offer postvention to families in the aftermath of a suicide loss and to
families of first responders who have lost their lives in the line of duty. TLC works
collaboratively with the New Jersey Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide
Prevention (AFSP), and the adults in these families are referred to the Survivor of Suicide
Groups that are offered around the state. There were 12.5 hours of postvention to
families provided through this outreach.
Youth Suicide Prevention
The TLC continues to be a leader in the provision of quality youth suicide prevention
awareness and suicide assessment training programs.
Statewide Conferences
Clergy Suicide Awareness
The TLC in conjunction with the Diocese of Metuchen held a suicide awareness
conference for catholic clergy entitled, Suicide: A Compassionate Approach to
Intervention and Healing. Conference content included:
 Prayer Services, Rite of Christian Funerals, and planning Eulogies following a
suicidal death
 Suicide awareness including mental health disorders that put individuals at greater
risk of suicide
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Risk factors, protective factors and warning signs of suicide
How to talk to a person at risk for suicide and increase the likelihood that they
will receive life saving intervention
Mental health referral protocol for a suicidal person
Pastoral counseling with families in the aftermath of suicide
Two hundred attended including priests, deacons, religious, pastoral associates,
chaplains, youth ministers, Lazarus ministers and bereavement group facilitators.
Trauma and Youth Conference
Robert Anda, MD, presented to 201 attendees on The Relationship of Adverse Childhood
Experiences to Mental Health Disorders and Suicide in Youth. This well-received
conference also included a panel discussion led by Dr. Anda, Theodore Petti, MD,
Nadezhda Robinson, PhD, and Charles Goldstein, MSW.
Central Administrative Team State-Wide Initiatives
The TLC has continued its efforts to assist schools in meeting the mandate of Assembly
Bill 3931 requiring educators to receive two hours of suicide awareness training in their
continuing education cycle every five years. This year alone, the TLC has conducted 26
Suicide Awareness Training Workshops for Educators. This training includes
information about the mental health disorders that put youth at greater risk of suicide, a
description of suicide risk factors, protective factors, and warning signs as well as a
discussion about school referral protocol for at-risk youth. This year 4,295 educators
were trained in these workshops.
The TLC has continued in its efforts to improve the information and delivery of the
Suicide Awareness Training for Educators by collaborating with the National Office of
the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. AFSP has agreed to fund the
production of two training videos. One video is geared for middle and high school youth
and focuses on clinical depression. The second video is focused on training educators to
spot and refer youth at risk for mental health disorders and suicide. The video for youth is
completed along with the training material. The TLC was asked by AFSP to assist with
piloting this program in several New Jersey schools and this piece of the project is
presently in discussion and will commence in January. Completion of the teacher
training film and manual is scheduled for March 2009. TLC will assist in piloting this
program for schools as well. Schools will be given these videos and the onsite or district
licensed professionals throughout the state will have the ability to administer these
trainings if they so choose.
George Scott, EdS, MFT, the Middlesex County TLC Coordinator, and Donna
Amundson, LCSW, TLC’s Program Manager, have been conducting various trainings in
the Chronological Assessment of Suicide Events (CASE) Approach. There were three
regional trainings offered in March/April 2008. A total number of 373 individuals were
trained with over 400 more that were closed out of the training. This training will be
offered again regionally in 2009.
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This training was also offered to screeners throughout the state through University
Behavioral HealthCare’s (UBHC) Technical Assistance Center (TAC ). During this
reporting year, 100 screeners received training. Also receiving CASE Model training
were 52 UBHC supervisors.
The total number of individuals trained through all TLC Central Administrative
Team’s Suicide Prevention initiatives statewide this year is 5,725, far exceeding our
projected goal of 750. The annual suicide prevention conference that was previously
held in May was rescheduled for November 2008 and will be covered in next year’s
report.
Youth Suicide Prevention
TLC Coordinators County Initiatives
The TLC Coordinators also personally provided or co-sponsored suicide prevention
workshops and trainings in their respective counties. This year 1,390 individuals were
trained.
To date the combined suicide prevention efforts of TLC’s Central Team and
Coordinators have enabled 21,843 individuals to receive life saving information.
TLC Coalition Meetings
The TLC Coordinators are mandated to provide three coalition meetings per year. The
purpose of these meetings is to provide a forum in which school personnel, mental health
professionals, law enforcement personnel, clergy and others who work with school-age
youth can network, share information and ideas, receive training, and also review
traumatic loss events that have occurred in their respective counties. Most coalitions
have opted to meet more than three times a year and the mean number of meetings held is
four. Several counties still meet once a month by popular demand. This indicates a
continued need and interest in this type of collaboration among youth serving individuals
and agencies. The coalition meetings include a one hour educational component. The
topics are chosen by the coalition members and reflect the unique and diverse needs of
the individuals and communities in the counties.
This year there were 1,542 individuals who attended coalition meetings, statewide. The
largest number of attendees represented school districts and mental health agencies but
also included juvenile justice, hospital professionals, private practice clinicians, law
enforcement personnel, social service agency personnel, victim witness and college
counseling center personnel.
There were 70 topics discussed in the educational component of the coalition meetings
including Emergency Management, Grief, Mental Health Disorders in Youth, the
Psychological Effects of Trauma, School Crisis Management, Substance Abuse, Suicide
Prevention, and Violence in Schools.
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Additional County Trainings
In addition to the suicide prevention trainings and the educational components of the
county coalition meetings, the TLC Coordinators have also arranged other workshops and
conferences in their counties. These programs included Strategies for Dealing with
Crisis in the Schools, Self Care Coping, Bullying in the Schools, Co-Occurring Disorders
Training, Working with the Red Cross in a Mental Health Response, Why Paper Cuts
Hurt and Cutting Does Not and Managing Oppositional and Defiant Behaviors in
Children and Adolescents. There were 2,467 individuals trained in these county
workshops and conferences in the past year.
Coordinator’s Regional and All County Meetings
There were six regional Coordinator meetings and two all county coordinator meetings
held during this reporting period. The purpose of these meetings is to bring all 21 County
Coordinators together to share information, network, problem solve, receive training,
skill drilling and support, review critical incident responses, promote self-care and
engender a camaraderie among these dedicated individuals who are doing this important
and demanding work.
The December 2007 All County Coordinator meeting featured Dottie Ward-Wimmer,
RN, LPC, PRT-S. The title of the presentation was, “How to Help Grieving Children”.
All 21 coordinators were asked to bring one or two members of their LRTs to this
presentation.
The second All County meeting for this reporting period was held following the June 6
presentation by Robert Anda, M.D. on the ACE study (Adverse Childhood Experiences).
An overview of the range of workshops and conferences provided by the TLC during the
past school year was presented. The coordinators gave a brief summation of their
accomplishments of the past year and their goals for the new school year.
TLC Newsletter
The Newsletter is sent electronically to over 3,000 individuals. Each edition contains a
column highlighting the activities of each county coalition, a list of the upcoming training
initiatives, a listing of suicide prevention and traumatic stress resources, and a
bibliography of pertinent books.
During the period of this report, the TLC published its Newsletter twice. In the Winter
2008 edition, coordinators were given the opportunity to thank their Lead Response
Team members for caring and sharing their time responding to school incidents.
The Appreciation Letters column was introduced in the Summer 2008 Newsletter to
highlight the efforts of the coordinators by printing “thank you” letters from
administrators in their counties.
Website Project
The TLC website is continually updated with timely information and guidelines. The
website also contains the County Coordinators contact information as well as upcoming
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conference and training brochures. Each TLC Newsletter is added to the website as an
adobe file for ease in downloading.
This year several trainings contained an online registration form enabling interested
individuals to streamline the registration process and receive confirmation electronically.
TLC Administrative Team Activities
The TLC Central Administrative Team has participated in several workshops and
trainings in the past year to increase their knowledge and skill base in the areas of
suicidology and trauma.
Donna Amundson spent a week in February 2008 training with Shawn Shea, MD, to
begin her training and credentialing process as a macro trainer of the CASE approach.
Donna Amundson attended the American Association of Suicidology Conference in April
2008 as well as the Trauma Conference offered by the Trauma Center in Boston in May
2008.
Donna Amundson continues to serve on the Governor’s Council on Youth Suicide
Prevention as well as the NAMI Rutgers Advisory Board.
Nancy Baird, MA, presented a poster at the American Association of Suicidology
Survivor Healing Conference in April 2008.
Dotty Rodrick continues to serve as a volunteer counselor on a 24 hour Crisis Hotline in
Ocean County.
TLC in the News
The TLC has enjoyed media coverage over the past year, bringing the program’s mission
and activities to light.
The following is a list of publications in which TLC Central Administrative Team and
Coordinators were interviewed or response acknowledged:
The Coast Star, 6/26/08
The Catholic Spirit, 5/15/08
The Catholic Spirit, 5/8/08
Sunday Star-Ledger, 11/11/07
This report is respectfully submitted by the Traumatic Loss Coalitions for Youth Program
Central Administrative Team staff:
Donna Amundson, LCSW, Program Manager
Nancy Baird, MA, Resource Coordinator
Dotty Rodrick, Resource Coordinator
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