Community Collaborations
The Cory Johnson Program for Post-Traumatic Healing
The Cory Johnson Program (CJP) for Post-Traumatic Healing has been promoting healing and recovery for persons affected by trauma for many years. Offered at the Roxbury Presbyterian Church, the CJP includes an array of supports. Monthly events known as “Can We Talk?” offer a safe place for sharing one’s stories. We are currently working with the CJP to create a procedure for evaluating the effectiveness of the program as part of a quality improvement project.
For more information about the CJP, please visit: rpcsocialimpactctr.org
Bridge Over Troubled Waters
Bridge Over Troubled Waters (BOTW) offers a variety of services to help runaway, homeless, and high-risk youth. Services include access to a mobile medical van, counseling and support, transitional day and welcome center programs, education and career development, emergency residence, a transitional living program, and housing. As part of their counseling services, BOTW has developed several brief, manualized treatments to address the mental health and substance use needs of homeless youth. We are currently working with BOTW to comprehensively evaluate the effectiveness of these brief interventions.
For more information about BOTW, please visit: www.bridgeotw.org
Suffolk County House of Correction
Incarcerated populations have high rates of trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which are associated with substance abuse, impulsive aggression, and relapse into criminal behavior. Complex PTSD (CPTSD) has been proposed as a syndrome with a more severe impact on personality and emotion self-regulation, which is thought to arise following exposure to repeated traumatic experiences. CPTSD is more common in the incarcerated population. Despite the prevalence of trauma amongst incarcerated persons, there are few systematic programs to deal with trauma. We have partnered with the Suffolk County House of Correction to conduct a quality improvement project aimed at improving the capacity of mental health providers to diagnose and treat stress disorders. The first Phase involves training the clinical staff to identify and diagnose symptoms of PTSD and CPTSD within a correctional setting. The second Phase will involve training the staff to treat symptoms of PTSD and CPTSD using a brief PTSD intervention known as Brief Relaxation, Education, and Trauma Healing (BREATHE).
For more information about the Suffolk County House of Correction, please visit: www.scsdma.org/south-bay-house-of-correction
The Chelsea Collaborative
In response to the challenges experienced by Chelsea, MA, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we partnered with Massachusetts General Hospital’s Community Psychiatry Program for Research in Implementation and Dissemination of Evidence-Based (PRIDE) Treatments and the Chelsea Collaborative to embed mental health modules into a paid summer internship for Chelsea youth. Four skills modules were included: 1) Observe the Thoughts, Emotions, Behaviors (TEB) Cycle; 2) Charge Up (behavioral activation); 3) Explore Thoughts (cognitive restructuring/flexibility); and 4) Face Fears (avoid avoidance). As a final project, participants completed a social media posting (e.g. via TikTok, Instagram) to convey information to peers about a particular skill/skill set.
For more information about the Chelsea Collaborative, please visit: www.la-colaborativa.org