1 / 43

Helping Children Heal Project: A School Based Mental Health Recovery Effort

Helping Children Heal Project: A School Based Mental Health Recovery Effort. Leslie E. Lawrence, M.D. Tulane University School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Neurology. Helping Children Heal Project Introduction.

lidia
Download Presentation

Helping Children Heal Project: A School Based Mental Health Recovery Effort

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Helping Children Heal Project: A School Based Mental Health Recovery Effort Leslie E. Lawrence, M.D. Tulane University School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Neurology

  2. Helping Children Heal ProjectIntroduction • An innovative school-based community research developed post Hurricane Katrina • Survey Type Research • Medical Students, Residents, Faculty • To assist in the post-disaster mental health recovery of children

  3. Helping Children Heal Project Introduction • Arnold P. Gold Foundation: advances humanism in medicine • Katrina Assistance Fund Grant (2005): Mark Viron, M.D. and Janet Johnson, M.D. • Mercy Corps- My personal Story of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

  4. Helping Children Heal Project Introduction • Monday, August 29, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans metro area • Levees Failed---Horrific Aftermath • Submerging 80% of New Orleans • One of the Greatest Tragedies in United States History

  5. Helping Children Heal Project Introduction • In Louisiana alone, over 1,000 people lost their lives • Countless others lost their homes, their jobs, and their way of life • Katrina left the people of New Orleans scattered across the country, with many, including school-age children, now in Houston, Texas

  6. Helping Children Heal Project Introduction • American Psychiatric Association and the Campaign for Mental Health Reform noted: • “For an estimated 30 % of hurricane victims and relief workers, the magnitude and duration of the traumas they are experiencing place them at great risk for developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), other anxiety disorders (e.g. panic disorder), severe depression and other mental and emotional disorders.”

  7. Helping Children Heal ProjectIntroduction • September, 2005, recognizing need and importance of providing continued education for the children of New Orleans • Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) • Teach for America • Houston Independent School district

  8. Helping Children Heal ProjectIntroduction • New Orleans West College Preparatory School (NOW) • K-8 charter school in Houston exclusively for children displaced from New Orleans

  9. Helping Children Heal ProjectIntroduction Student Population of NOW: • 100% African-American • Historically impoverished areas of New Orleans • Homes destroyed by Katrina

  10. Helping Children Heal ProjectIntroduction • Administrators of NOW: • Structure • Stability • Support

  11. Helping Children Heal Project Introduction • Risk Factors for Children at NOW school: • Witnessed Traumatic Events • Trapped • Lost their homes, belonging, pets, friends and family • At the very least, all must start life over at a new school in a new city

  12. Helping Children Heal Project Introduction • Problem: • Increased number of behavioral and emotional problems • NOW administrators contacted Tulane University Department of Psychiatry & Neurology* • Requested assistance in dealing with the psychological effects of Katrina

  13. Helping Children Heal Project Introduction • NOW administrators • Teachers • Tulane University Dept of Psychiatry & Neurology • Helping Children Heal (HCH) project.

  14. Helping Children Heal ProjectResearch (NOW) OBJECTIVES: • Determine the prevalence of PTSS among the children of a middle school in post-Katrina New Orleans • Evaluate the effect of a guided-workbook intervention

  15. Helping Children Heal ProjectResearch (NOW) METHODS: • The National Child Traumatic Stress Network Custom screening Tool • The University of California at Los Angeles Child Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Reaction Index (PTSD-RI) • My Personal Story about Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: A Guided Activity Workbook for Children by Gilbert Kliman, et al.

  16. Helping Children Heal ProjectResearch (NOW) • RESULTS: For grades 6-8, post-traumatic symptom level scores declined 18.75% compared with pre-assessment scores (median of 32 to 26). This was statistically significant (p=.0001).

  17. Helping Children Heal ProjectResearch (McDonogh #15) • Same Research • Different Location; New Orleans • Same Administrators • Different Population

  18. Helping Children Heal ProjectResearch (McDonogh #15) • Objective • Methods* • Community Education on PTSD • Results • Arnold P. Gold Foundation; Poetry Books

  19. Helping Children Heal ProjectResearch (McDonogh #15) OBJECTIVES: • Determine the prevalence of PTSS among the children of a middle school in post-Katrina New Orleans • Evaluate the effect of a guided-workbook intervention

  20. Helping Children Heal ProjectResearch (McDonogh #15) METHODS: • The National Child Traumatic Stress Network Custom screening Tool • The University of California at Los Angeles Child Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Reaction Index (PTSD-RI) • My Personal Story about Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: A Guided Activity Workbook for Children by Gilbert Kliman, et al.

  21. Helping Children Heal ProjectResearch (McDonogh #15) • COMMUNITY EDUCATION: • PTSD • Types of Stressors: • During the Hurricane(Trapped In Superdome) • Afterwards (Living in a trailer) • PTSD Treatment

  22. Helping Children Heal ProjectResearch (McDonogh #15) • RESULTS: Before the workbook, the median RI score was 24, and 54 students (46%) displayed moderate to severe PTSS. Post-workbook, 43 students (37%) displayed moderate to severe PTSS, and the median RI score decreased by 17% to 20 (p=.0096).

  23. Helping Children Heal ProjectResearch Conclusions • Guided workbook may be a simple and effective intervention to reduce post-traumatic stress in children exposed to hurricanes • Numerous confounders need to be considered • Home Environment • Classroom • Resilience of Each Child • Supportive Factors • Passage of Time

  24. Helping Children Heal Project “Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me, and I may not remember. Involve me, and I’ll understand” • Lakota Sioux

  25. Helping Children Heal ProjectReferences • Pynoos R, Rodriguez N, Steinberg A, Stuber M, Frederick C: The UCLA PTSD Reaction Index for DSM IV (Revision 1). Los Angeles, UCLA Trauma Psychiatry Program, 1998 • Kliman G, Oklan E, Wolfe H, Kliman J: My Personal Story about Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: A Guided Activity Workbook for Middle and High School Students. San Francisco, The Children's Psychological Health Center, 2005 • Mishkin, AD, Viron M, Lawrence LE, Johnson JE, Samples G, Kliman G. Reducing Post-Traumatic Stress after Hurricane Katrina: A School-Based Intervention. Poster presented at the 59th Institute on Psychiatric Services Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, October 11-14, 2007 • Lawrence LE, Viron M, Johnson JE, Hudkins A, Samples G, Kliman G: A school-based mental health recovery effort. Poster presented at the 58th Institute on Psychiatric Services Annual Meeting, New York, NY, October 5-8, 2006

More Related