Patti Park has extensive experience in executive and senior leadership positions in community mental health organizations serving children and families throughout Los Angeles County, and has been providing direct clinical services since 2001. She was involved in the planning and implementation of Proposition 63 funded trauma-focused and evidence-based programs in L.A. County. She has served on county best practices committees to enhance assessment and treatment for children involved in the child welfare system. Her most recent agencybased leadership role was as Regional Director for Children’s Institute, Inc. In this position, she provided strategic and organizational leadership to develop and sustain comprehensive trauma-focused and evidence-based programs to children and families suffering from the intersecting effects of poverty, oppression and trauma. She integrates her clinical and leadership experiences into her teaching role at UC Berkeley, where she teaches theory and clinical practice courses through a trauma-informed lens. She has also taught at UCLA and CSU Dominguez Hills. In addition to teaching, Dr. Park maintains a private practice where she provides psychotherapy and consultation services.
Network Members
This listing of NCTSN members includes current grantees as well as NCTSN Affiliates, former grantees who have maintained their ties to the Network.
Patti Park, PsyD
Pauter, Sarah, MPPA
Sarah Pauter is the founder and CEO of Phenomenal Families, a nonprofit organization that provides pregnant and parenting youth in foster care and juvenile probation access to education and other resources which promote healthy relationships, sexual development, and positive parenting skills. After spending 17 years in the child welfare system before ultimately emancipating, Sarah earned a Bachelor’s in Social Work from San Diego State University and a Master’s in Public Policy and Administration from Northwestern University. Sarah has dedicated her life and career to improving outcomes for vulnerable children and youth, even testifying before Congress and the California Senate on mental health treatment options for young people in foster care. Sarah was previously a Trauma-Informed Systems Transformation Specialist with the Chadwick Center for Children and Families where she co-led the development of the Child Welfare Trauma Training Toolkit (3rd ed.). Her skills include partnering with children, youth, and families, policy formulation and implementation, and stakeholder engagement.
Public Health Institute
Our Lotus Project will provide workshops, webinars, and consultation regarding trauma-informed care and prevention for Asian and Pacific Islander (API) children and families in the U.S. In collaboration with the Professional Advisory Board and Community Advisory Board members, we will address culturally competent trauma-informed care and prevention for API children and families through our project website and the national networks of service providers and public officers.
Rivas-Hermina, Lisette, MS, LMFT
Lisette Rivas-Hermina has been a senior training specialist at the Children’s Institute, Inc. She now works as a consultant and trainer for Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) in Los Angeles. She remains involved with NCTSN activities to promote the use of evidenced-based trauma treatment for children and their families. Ms. Rivas-Hermina provides treatment to children and their families in Spanish and English in her private practice using both TF-CBT and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy.
Ryan, Caitlin, PhD, ACSW
Caitlin Ryan, PhD, ACSW is a clinical social worker, researcher and director of the Family Acceptance Project (FAP) who has worked on LGBTQ health and mental health for more than 40 years. She conducted the first research on LGBTQ youth and families and developed the first evidence-based family support model to prevent risk and promote well-being for LGBTQ children and youth. FAP's family support model helps ethnically, racially and religiously diverse families to support their LGBTQ children to prevent risk and promote well-being in the context of their families, cultures, and faith communities. Her work shows how specific family rejecting and accepting behaviors contribute to risk and well-being for LGBTQ children and youth and helps caregivers understand the traumatic impact of family rejecting behaviors that many parents use to try to change, prevent and minimize their child's LGBTQ identity to try to help their LGBTQ children fit in, stay connected with their cultural and faith traditions and be accepted by others. FAP's approach to increasing family support for LGBTQ children and youth was designed to be implemented across systems, including behavioral health, school-based services, primary care, out-of-home care and pastoral care. Dr. Ryan collaborated with Allegheny General Hospital's Center for Traumatic Stress in Children & Adolescents and the developers of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) to integrate FAP's family support model and TF-CBT to develop a new integrated family-based treatment model for care of LGBTQ children and youth who have experienced trauma. She has developed multilingual evidence-based family education resources and trains on this work across the U.S. and in other countries.
Seilicovich, Irma, MA, LMFT
Irma Seilicovich is COO and co-founder of The Village Family Services, a nonprofit that works primarily with children and young adults exposed to trauma, in North Hollywood, CA. Ms. Seilicovich has been actively working in the mental health field for over 25 years with a focus on children and families. Formerly coordinator for the Trauma Center at Children’s Institute Inc. and a current member of the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS), Ms. Seilicovich continues her association with the NCTSN while implementing evidence-based trauma treatment for children at The Village Family Services.
Smith, Stefanie, PhD
Dr. Stefanie F. Smith is Chief Clinical Officer at the Hanna Boys Center, a trauma-informed therapeutic boarding school/ residential center for adolescent boys. Hanna transforms the lives of youth, families and communities impacted by trauma and adversity through resilience, connection and spiritual wellness. As CCO she oversees the clinical team (including masters and doctoral trainees), admissions, and the training of all staff, including residential and teaching staff. In these capacities, she trains and supervises on culturally responsive, trauma-informed practices and trauma-specific interventions, and helps design trauma-informed policies and procedures as well as implement activities for the boys that reflect the latest science on the impacts and treatment of complex trauma. She also conducts program evaluation and research. Finally, Dr. Smith helps train and consult to community agencies.
SSG-OTTP BRIGHT Program
Special Service for Groups - Occupational Therapy Training Program (SSG-OTTP) has been providing community based mental health services to youth and families in Los Angeles County since 1975. Evidence based practice models provided to address child trauma include PCIT, TFCBT, Loving Intervention for Family Enrichment, Youth Mental Health First Aid, and Seeking Safety. Under the SAMHSA grant called the BRIGHT Program (Build Resiliency, Inspire Growth, & Heal Trauma), staff will be providing trauma informed mental health groups utilizing the Seeking Safety model to help youth age 13-25 learn about the effects of trauma and substance use on mental well-being, and to learn and practice coping strategies. The goals are to help clients learn to decrease trauma responses and risk for future trauma exposure and to increase their ability to function as well as increase their overall life satisfaction. The multidisciplinary team includes an MFT, Occupational Therapist, Mental Health Rehabilitation Specialist, and an Outreach Specialist of various backgrounds and lived experiences to ensure holistic, culturally sensitive, trauma informed services. The team will also be training professionals and parents in the community in Mental Health First Aid in order to increase awareness of risk factors of self-harm and suicide among youth so they may engage in prevention and intervention in their communities. SSG-OTTP was founded on the principals of Occupational Therapy which include the value of an individual's use of meaningful daily activities (occupations) to create an enjoyable life. The therapeutic approach to use the transformational power of occupation is one of the many qualities that makes OTTP so unique.
Sycamores
Since 1902, Sycamores has been committed to helping children, families, and adults have a better life. We provide help during some of the most challenging times in their life. With an unconditional, whatever-it-takes approach, we provide care and support to those we serve. We have a long-standing history providing trauma-informed, evidence-based practices and policies in the areas of child trauma, grief and loss, and child welfare. Sycamores was an early adopter of evidence-based practices among provider agencies in the Prevention and Early Intervention transformational initiative implemented across the state of California. We provide services across Los Angeles, spanning the San Fernando, San Gabriel, and Antelope Valleys, as well as in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. Serving nearly 16,000 Californians facing serious life challenges each year, we use our expertise, creativity, and dedication to help address each person's individual needs, while also providing tools to help them move forward to a better life.
UC Davis Early Psychosis Programs, Department of Psychiatry
Comorbid trauma and psychosis are common yet under-recognized in juvenile justice (JJ), child welfare (CW), and community mental health (CMH) settings; and recognized youth do not receive appropriate services. The Trauma and Adolescent Mental Illness (TAMI) Services Project triples the capacity of service providers in Sacramento County, CA, to provide evidence-based services for youth (age 12-22) with comorbid trauma and psychosis in JJ, CW, and CMH settings. Project goals are: 1) Increase capacity of child-serving systems to identify and appropriately link youth experiencing trauma and psychosis symptoms by implementing a universal screening and referral protocol in Sac County JJ and CW settings; 2) Increase the capacity of Sac County CMH services to provide evidence-based trauma-focused care for youth with comorbid trauma and psychosis by implementing a curriculum that addresses the training needs of CMH providers. TAMI services comprise Trauma-Informed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis (TI-CBTp; Folk et al., 2019), developed in collaboration by the UC Davis (UCD) SacEDAPT clinic and UCD CAARE Center. We implemented TAMI services in the SacEDAPT clinic in 2014, have provided care to over 65 youth, and built capacity for 25 cases per year. Unfortunately, an estimated 100 system-involved youth need TAMI services annually in Sac County, and SacEDAPT is the only Sac County provider of TAMI services. This project will increase TAMI service capacity in Sac County by expanding to 6 additional CMH sites. Our team is uniquely positioned carry out this work: the SacEDAPT clinic and CAARE Center have an established partnership and are nationally recognized leaders in the development and implementation of EBPs for youth with trauma and psychosis in diverse settings.