As a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, I have over twenty years of experience working in collaboration with children, families, and professionals to support mental well-being. My work has been informed by my personal experiences as a trauma survivor as well as extensive training/professional work in trauma. In recognition of the multiple ways that sociohistorical contextual issues impacts mental health, I have developed and co-developed a number of trainings such as: Black Youth & Suicide; Is Your Job Mask Making It Hard For You To Breathe; Supporting Your Child(ren) and Yourself During Challenging TImes; and Cultural Context & Trauma:Implications for Students. For a number of years, I have been an active participant in NCTSN in the Culture Consortium as well as Racial Justice and Trauma Subcommittees. I am currently a Co-Chair of the Practice Based Effectiveness Workgroup.
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.
Norrington-Sands, Kimani, PhD
Olive View UCLA Education and Research Institute
Olive View provides a care process model for pediatric trauma stress (CMPT) and trauma-reminder focused interventions, including Trauma and Grief Component Therapy for Adolescents (TGCTA), a Family Intervention for Suicide Prevention (FISP), and a Reminder Focused Positive Psychiatry intervention (RFPP) - in collaboration with NCTSN Category II Centers for adolescents with PTSD and their families at Olive View UCLA Medical Center (OVMC). Clinicians and nurses at Pediatric Clinics, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), and Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall mental health clinics will achieve trauma-informed skillset and competency to implement. Trauma-informed screening: CMPT will be primarily implemented in pediatric and mental health clinics, screening 1,500 at-risk adolescents for PTSD per year for a total of 7,500 adolescents. Adolescents at risk for PTSD will be evaluated using the Pediatric Traumatic Stress Screening Tool, and based on the adolescent's trauma symptom severity and the presence of functional impairment in the adolescent's life, adolescents with PTSD will be assigned to one of three treatment interventions, including protective – for mild symptoms, - resilient – for moderate symptoms - or restorative – for severe symptoms. Trauma Reminder Interventions: FISP, TGCTA, and RFPP interventions will be implemented at OVMC. The project will provide evidence-based interventions to 210 youth with PTSD and their families per year for a total of 1,050 youth. The population of focus is trauma-exposed adolescents 9 to 18 years old. This includes children of military families, children involved in the child welfare system, children in pediatric clinics, and adolescents with co-morbid substance use disorders across underserved youth in north Los Angeles.
Patti Park
Patti Park, PsyD, 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.
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
The 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.
Public Health Institute - Lotus Project
In the collaboration of two key agencies, Public Health Institute (PHI) and Richmond Area Multi-Services (RAMS), the Lotus project aims to provide training, education, and technical assistance based on the wide-scale dissemination and implementation of effective, evidence-based treatment and service approaches in child trauma specific to Asia American and Asian immigrant (AAAI) populations. The issues of trauma-informed care and prevention for AAAI children and families have been neglected and a large number of AAAI have been suffering from traumatic experience because SAMHSA's EBPs do not address cultural issues specific to AAAI and very few service agencies are equipped to efficiently provide services to AAAI. Cultural issues among AAAI (e.g., stigma, shame, and language barriers) must be addressed through coordinated efforts among health service agencies. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, AAAI have been exposed to violence and harassment. AAAI children are suffering from the trauma caused by violence and harassment. The Lotus project will serve as a continuing resource for training, consultation, and technical assistance to service providers, officers of child-serving systems, and AAAI and other racial/ethnic communities affected by traumatic events including those due to the pandemic.
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.