Newswise — Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has available for interviews two outstanding individuals with extensive experience in psychological trauma counseling (elementary and high school-age students).
Virginia Tech Shootings Expert #1: Suzanne Silverstein, MA, ATR, President/Co-Founder, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Psychological Trauma Center. Specialized expertise in working with elementary students who have been psychologically traumatized and directs programs designed to provide early intervention in preventing gang violence. More Psychological Trauma Center information available online at http://www.ptcweb.org/terror.html.
Virginia Tech Shootings Expert #2: Elaine Leader, Ph.D., BCD, CGP, Executive Director, Teen Line, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Specialized expertise with high school-age students; directs the nationally recognized teens-helping-teens program, which addresses such issues as violence, abuse, AIDS, alcoholism, depression, divorce, drugs, gangs, homelessness, pregnancy, sexuality and suicide. More Teen Line information available online at http://www.teenlineonline.org/.
More information on both programs is below (coincidentally, both were founded in 1981).
SUZANNE SILVERSTEIN/PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA CENTERThe Psychological Trauma Center is a nonprofit organization that meets mental health needs of traumatized elementary school students in disadvantaged areas of Los Angeles. Silverstein's expertise is in the area of helping survivors begin to cope with psychological trauma, which affects a student's ability to concentrate and learn.
Established in Los Angeles in 1981, the Psychological Trauma Center was the nation's first to tailor crisis intervention and mental health services to children who are direct or indirect victims of such traumatic events as natural disasters, car accidents, fires and neighborhood and school violence. DR. ELAINE LEADER/TEEN LINEFounded in 1981, Teen Line helps adolescents address their problems through a confidential peer hotline and community outreach program. More than 10,000 youth call the hotline each year. TEEN LINE's staff carefully screen and select approximately 80 teenagers a year for hotline and outreach training. They complete a 60-hour training program emphasizing specialized listening and communication techniques. Topics discussed include crisis intervention, family life, cultural diversity, values clarification, sexuality, addictions, abuse, self-destructive and life threatening behaviors.
Dr. Leader has received international recognition, including the University of London Mark of Distinction in Social Work, the 2005 National Peer Helpers Association's "Peer Program of the Year" Award, the 2002 Violence Prevention Coalition's Angel of Peace Award, and much more.
The first in Southern California and one of only 10 hospitals in the state whose nurses have been honored with the prestigious Magnet designation, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is one of the largest nonprofit academic medical centers in the Western United States. For 19 consecutive years, it has been named Los Angeles' most preferred hospital for all health needs in an independent survey of area residents. Cedars-Sinai is internationally renowned for its diagnostic and treatment capabilities, as well as breakthroughs in biomedical research and superlative medical education. It ranks among the top 10 non-university hospitals in the nation for its research activities and is fully accredited by the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs, Inc. (AAHRPP). Additional information is available at http://www.cedars-sinai.edu.
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