Dr Heidi Ellis:

Dr Heidi Ellis:

Unfortunately although school based services are one of the best ways of increasing access for immigrant and refugee students the process of setting up services in a school can be complicated.  Issues such as billing/reimbursement, space, parent involvement, and access to students during the school day will need to be worked out.  That said I encourage you to begin conversations between service agencies (such as CVT) and schools to see if it could be done.  It may be helpful to keep in mind how such a partnership could help both agencies; when done right school-based services can solve problems faced by service agencies (the no-show rate drops way off) and schools (students are able to learn better when their mental health problems are being addressed).

Dr Judith Cohen:

Only licensed and appropriately trained mental health professionals should provide psychotherapy. In particular the use exposure therapy techniques such as creating a trauma narrative and in vivo exposure with children who have significant trauma symptoms should not be undertaken by individuals who do not have these qualifications. In appropriate provision of these interventions can lead to worsening of trauma symptoms.  However adults have many other venues through which to provide support to traumatized children other than as psychotherapists. Parents, teachers, and other adults can support resilience building skills including those described in this presentation (psychoeducation about the impact of trauma; relaxation; affect expression and modulation; and cognitive coping) in a multitude of ways that are consistent with what was described here without providing formal psychotherapy.

Dr Judith Cohen:

Some resources are available on the National Child Traumatic Stress Network website at www.nctsn.org including information about different treatment approaches that may be helpful for refugee and immigrant children, a white paper that describes the many challenges facing these children, and information about various other types of traumas that they may have experienced. You may also receive information about trauma specialty providers in your area.

Dr Judith Cohen:

Absolutely, we often use creative activities including music, art,dance, and/or drama to implement the components that were described during this presentation. Not only are these activities fun, but creative activities are different on many levels from thinking and talking so itis possible that engaging in both types of activities are helpful in therapy.

Dr Judith Cohen:

KidNET is Narrative Exposure Therapy for Children and Adolescents. More information about this treatment approach is available at  http://www.vivofoundation.net/eng_narrative_exposure_therapy

Dr Judith Cohen:

Youth like Amina seem to be doing very well in our program. More than 80% generally recover within 12-20 sessions with drop outs and need for additional services also being similar to other children seen in our program.

On May 21st, the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools sponsored a webinar: Understanding the Rise in Suicide Attempts in Latina Teens by Dr Luis Zayas.  There were over 400 participants and many excellent questions were submitted to Dr Zayas.  He will be working on his responses and we will be adding them to this blog as they are completed.  Please feel free to post additional questions and/or comments for Dr Zayas and we look forward to hearing from you.