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Early Trauma Treatment Network

The Early Trauma Treatment Network (ETTN) is a network of four sites across the country that provides clinical services to young children who have experienced trauma. ETTN services are currently being offered to families in the New Orleans area at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC) in New Orleans.

Through the ETTN, we offer assessment and therapy for young children who have experienced trauma. We actively involve the children's caregivers in treatment. Services are provided on a sliding fee scale.

Families qualify if they meet the following criteria:

• The child is 5 years of age or younger.
• The child has experienced some form of trauma. Types of trauma may include:
  • Being a victim of abuse or neglect
  • Witnessing domestic or community violence
  • Losing an important caregiver
  • Experiencing a frightening medical procedure
  • Witnessing or experiencing a frightening event such as an accident or natural disaster.
• The family can obtain transportation to the clinic for weekly appointments.

Referral agencies or families can contact the ETTN-LSUHSC Project Coordinator, Mindy Kronenberg, Ph.D. at (504) 343-5476 to schedule an intake or ask more questions about the program. Families do not need a referral to be seen through ETTN-LSUHSC.

Joy D. Osofsky, PhD, Program Director of ETTN-LSUHSC, can be reached at (504) 568-6004.

Forensic Evaluation

The faculty in the section of psychology have specialized expertise in a number of forensic psychological areas, including competence to stand trial, criminal responsibility, mitigating factors in death penalty evaluations, civil disability evaluations, independent psychological/neuropsychological evaluations, and child custody evaluations. They have qualified as experts in both state and federal courts in Louisiana and around the country.

Dr. Rick Costa - Child and adolescent, clinical, and forensic Psychology, trauma and rural trauma

Dr. Amy Dickson - Infant mental health, children and adolescents, psychological trauma, developmental/intellectual/personality assessment, children in the foster care system, custody evaluation

Dr. Adrianne Brennan - Civil and criminal evaluation, malingering, developmental disabilities, traumatic brain injury, psychological and neuropsychological assessment of adolescents and adults, crime victims

Dr. Joy Osofsky - Psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, psychological assessment, developmental psychopathology, high risk infants, adolescents, and mothers, primary prevention in high risk groups.

Preschool Program

Each year in Orleans Parish, thousands of children enter kindergarten, many of whom are not yet prepared to begin their academic education. Some common reasons that many children may not be ready for school are because of social, emotional, or cognitive difficulties. These problems, in turn, put them at greater risk than their peers for school problems, relationship difficulties, and academic failure that can affect them throughout their lives. Since approximately 61% of children under the age of four years are in childcare (National Household Education Survey, 1999), LSUHSC Department of Psychiatry partnered with area child care centers and other community members to advance children's social, emotional, and intellectual development, so that they may receive the best possible start when they enter school. This is accomplished through consultations, evaluation, training, and treatment in area day care centers.

For more information, please contact Dr. Joy Osofsky, (504) 568-6004, josofs@lsuhsc.edu

The Victim Assistance Program for Children and Families

The Victim Assistance Program (VAP), formerly Violence Intervention Program for Children and Families (VIP), was developed in 1992 as a direct response to the crisis of rising violence in New Orleans (paralleling that in the United States as a whole) and the fact that ever increasing numbers of children were being exposed to violence as victims or witnesses. The philosophy guiding the VAP program is a systems approach designed to work with the whole community to solve the problem of violence among our youth. VAP aims to decrease violence through a combination of early intervention, counseling, and services to victims as well as education and prevention forums directed at police, parents, and children. A key component of the program is education of police officers about the effects of violence on children and families to increase their knowledge and sensitivity when dealing with violent incidents. An evaluation of the effectiveness of the education for police comparing 1995, 1997, and 1999 data indicated increased sensitivity to the needs of the traumatized children as well as increased knowledge about resources for referral.

For more information about the program, contact Dr. Amy Dickson, VAP Director, Department of Psychiatry, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, 2020 Gravier St., Lions Clinic, 7th Floor, New Orleans, LA 70112; (504) 568-6004; fax (504) 568-6006; e-mail, adicks@lsuhsc.edu 

New Orleans Schoolchildren Following a Neighborhood Shooting

In an effort to reach traumatized children and families as quickly as possible, a 24-hour Hotline supported by mental health professionals was established to provide the needed communication through which children and families touched by violence could seek immediate referral, counseling, and guidance. It is available to police officers and families to obtain advice or information at the scene of community or domestic violence. The police distribute VAP cards with the hotline number to families so that they can seek help if needed. Over the course of three years, we have noted that approximately 25% of the calls on the hotline come from the police and 75% come from families to whom they have given the number. About 60% of the calls are for referrals of children 12 years old or younger (with some children as young as one to two years of age) and approximately 50% of the calls become referrals for mental health services. The funds that are raised to support the program allow us to provide mental health services to many children and families who could not otherwise afford such services.

In developing our program as a multi disciplinary effort, we worked to find ways to build relationships between community, police, mental health professionals, and schools to address issues of prevention and services for referred children who witness violence and suffer from symptoms related to their exposure such as nightmares, disruptive behavior in school, and, in the most extreme cases, post traumatic stress disorder. We continue to problem-solve with police to develop strategies that might work better for the child witnesses when they investigate violent incidents, such as homicides. We work with parents to find ways that they can protect their children, keep them safe, and away from violent scenes because of the potentially traumatizing impact on both them and their children. Further, we work to build strengths in communities to help both parents and children.

Our program has continued to evolve and grow. Evaluation of the effectiveness of our work has been built into our intervention program from its inception so that we will be able to learn about what works and what does not and determine the changes that are needed to make the program more effective. Materials that have been developed for use in the VAP program include: Keeping your Child Safe, The Child Safety Booklet, Keeping Families Safe: A Family Violence Handbook, and a Community Resource Directory.

For more information about the program, contact Dr. Joy D. Osofsky, Program Director, Department of Psychiatry, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, 2020 Gravier St., Lions Clinic, 7th Floor, New Orleans, LA 70112; (504) 568-6004; fax (504) 568-6006; e-mail, josofs@lsuhsc.edu.