CAMFTHISTORICAL ASPECTS OF THE TRT - PREVIOUSLY KNOWN AS THE "TRAUMA RESPONSE TEAM" AND AS OF FALL 2024, NOW CALLED THE "TRAUMA & DISASTER RESPONSE TEAM"
In 1990 the MCAMFT board, headed by Board President, Daniel Sonkin, decided to establish a Disaster Response Team in the aftermath of the Loma Prieta Earthquake in October 1989. Those of us on the Board were frustrated in our efforts to help and became aware that our therapy skills were not enough to effectively respond during a disaster. We arranged for Diane Myers, RN, a nationally known expert in Disaster Mental Health to train a groups of interested LMFTs. Our DRT was headed by Daniel Sonkin until 1996, at which time Jacqueline Ladrech and Elizabeth Thompson became co-chairs of the team. At some point the team's name was changed to the Trauma Response Team.
Over the years the team had numerous trainings focusing on:
- Disaster Mental Health
- Critical Incident Stress Management
- Violence in the Workplace
- Terrorism
- Working with Children in a Disaster
- Compassion Fatigue
We also trained with the Red Cross because it is necessary to be associated with a responding organization in order to have access to victims.
Members of MCAMFT’s TRT have been able to give caring support to victims and first responders during many unfortunate disasters. We responded to the Firestorm in the Berkeley Hills, the Vision fire in Inverness, the Polly Klaas volunteer center, 101 California St. shooting in SF, various response efforts after 9/11, and to the Valley Fire in Lake County.
PAST UPDATES FROM THE TRAUMA TEAM
Winter 2022 Update from Marin CAMFT's Trauma Response Team
Greetings Everyone,
Happy New Year and Welcome 2022!
The
Marin CAMFT Trauma Response Team, (TRT), is excited for the new year
and the new adventures ahead. We have made significant progress in our
collaboration efforts with the staff at Marin County Behavioral Health
and Recovery Services. The goal is to provide skilled mental health
volunteers during school crises, critical incidents and larger disasters
in Marin as well as other Bay area counties. Under the auspices of the
Marin Medical Reserve Corps, (MMRC), TRT members will be deployed by
county officials as part of the national Medical Reserves Corps program
developed after 9/11.
Through
our TRT/MMRC collaboration, TRT members will be pre-vetted, receive
monthly training and be the foundation for a larger team of skilled
mental health volunteers. To learn more and join this important effort,
please reach out to one of the TRT chairs whose contact info is listed
below.
Dee
Treshnell, who revitalized the Trauma Response Team efforts with Marin
CAMFT and lead the School Crisis Team has stepped back from these roles
and will be sincerely missed. Her leadership, experience with schools,
and sense of humor gave the team an outstanding foundation. The School
Crisis Team serves school districts in Marin when disaster strikes and
school counselors are overwhelmed. In her absence, Beth and Kathleen are
reaching out to team members and the larger Marin CAMFT community for
someone with organizational and school experience to co-chair the TRT
School Crisis Team. Please let us know if that is you!
Two
mental health news items are important to highlight. First, a National
State of Emergency was declared for the mental health of America’s youth
and in October, 2021, a national state of emergency for the mental
health of America’s youth was declared by leading child health care
groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy
of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Children’s Hospital Association.
Representing
more than 77,000 physicians and more than 200 children’s hospitals,
this declaration draws attention to the pandemic’s worsening effect on
youth’s already significant mental health challenges. “Today’s
declaration is an urgent call to policymakers at all levels of
government - we must treat this mental health crisis like the emergency
it is,” urged Savio Beers, AAP President Dr. Lee.
With
Marin County already having one of the highest teen suicide rates in
the Bay area, additional attention to youth mental health needs,
programs and resources is much needed. What are you observing in your
practice?
Second, add this phone number to your contacts: Disaster Distress Hotline: 1-800-985-5990
This
is a 24/7 365-day-a-year, national hotline dedicated to providing
immediate crisis counseling for people who are experiencing emotional
distress related to any natural or human-caused disaster. This
toll-free, multilingual, and confidential crisis support service is
available to all residents in the United States and its territories.
Spanish speakers can call the hotline and press “2” for 24/7 bilingual
support. Interpretation services are available in over 100 languages.
In
addition, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration, (SAMHSA), has a Disaster app that offers first
responders immediate access for any type of traumatic event at every
response phase. Download the app and learn more about the hotline at https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/disaster-distress-helpline.
If
you’re interested in participating in the TRT, please join our monthly
meetings which include speakers and discussions on topics such as
disaster mental health, trauma, experiences in the field, and pertinent
trainings. Our meetings are on the third Friday of the month at 11 am.
Please contact Beth to get the Zoom link.
Trauma Response Team Co-Chairs
Fall 2021 Update from Marin CAMFT's Trauma Response Team
Greetings and wishing you all the best with your continued good health and safety.
The Marin CAMFT Trauma Response Team (TRT) has been on alert during these challenging times of COVID, California fires and school crisis events. Our TRT consists of two teams: Disaster Mental Health and School Crisis.
We recently responded through our partners at the County of Marin Office of Education to a school crisis. Our team connected with local school administrators, teachers and students to support them through the return to classes and a difficult time. We are proud of our team’s response in trying times as we continue to grow and develop our Disaster Mental Health and School Crisis Teams.
We
are cultivating stronger working relationships in our Marin community,
which includes our members joining the MMRC (Marin Medical Reserve
Corps) at: https://www.marinhhs.org/mmrc, as well as pursuing further trainings in Critical Incident response and Suicide Prevention.
TRT members who want to deploy for a local school crisis and/or critical incidents will need to join the MMRC. Participating in the MMRC is easy and affords greater coordination with the Marin County Crisis Unit and Office of Emergency operations.
The Marin County Suicide Prevention Collaborative is led by Kara Connors. An important goal for the year is to increase our connection with this amazing team. Their meeting dates are listed at the County website: https://www.marinhhs.org/suicide-prevention.
Our partnership with the Red Cross remains strong and will aid in quick deployment to disasters and traumatic events in the community. Red Cross Disaster Mental Health training enables us to deploy to disasters within Marin County, the greater Bay area, and California.
Kathleen
Ries, a lead for our Trauma Response Team, is the head of Disaster
Mental Health for Marin Red Cross, which further strengthens our
involvement and readiness for disasters. Our team is becoming a vital
part of response to disasters, trauma and school crisis in Marin County.
We welcome new members and encourage you to reach out to our team
leaders. Our meetings are energetic and involve speakers in the field,
member input and future plans for the team.
We meet on the third Friday of the month at 11:00am and our meetings are open to all Marin CAMFT members.
Our philosophy is that our team is only as strong as each individual member. We promote involvement, idea sharing and goal setting by all of our members. In this way, our team better serves all communities in Marin.
We hope to see you soon!
Summer 2021 Update from Marin CAMFT's Trauma Response Team
Marin CAMFT’s Trauma Response Team has been increasingly active and engaging with our community this year. We’ve been connecting with our members and with the community with very positive and exciting results!
The number of team members both on our Trauma Team and our School Crisis and Support Team has increased. Two members, Tammie Grant and Pam Lister, gave excellent presentations at recent meetings. Discussions have generated so much interest that our meetings now include an optional lobby session in which we continue our discussions after the meeting.
These monthly meetings are open to all Marin CAMFT members. Our next meeting is Friday, July 9th at 9am. If you'd like to join, please contact one of our co-chairs below and we'll send you the Zoom link. This meeting has been canceled; please check back later for an announcement when the Committee will meet again.
In keeping with our community outreach goals, we’ve initiated several online meetings with the leaders of numerous County agencies that share our intention to meet the needs of our Marin population, by creating a joint response to disasters, crises, and traumatic events. Specifically, our team could offer pro bono mental health support along with Marin County’s Behavioral Health and Recovery Services staff. We’d like to thank Todd Paler, Program Manager of the Crisis Unit, and Kara Connors, Marin HHS Senior Program Manager for Suicide Prevention, for meeting with us and including us in this important community effort.
Another exciting development is that we are now more “present” on the Marin CAMFT website and easier to find, with the Trauma Response Team page now moved to sit with the other direct links within the header of marincamft.org. We are very thankful to have Lisa Wenninger share her expertise and time as we move toward increasing our presence as we add newsletters, team requirements, and potentially, a blog. Our continuing effort to increase our visibility will make our presence and team more accessible to those who seek support and to those who wish to join our team.
The good news just keeps coming . . . Our three leads, Beth Leib, Kathleen Ries, and Dee Treshnell, recently met in a retreat format to evaluate “where we are” and discuss our potential goals for the year. We held a productive online retreat on May 21st for our Trauma Team members wherein ideas and goals from the team were shared. Our members' visions aligned with our original vision and intention for our Trauma Response Team. Every team is only as strong as each individual member! We greatly appreciate all of the keen insights and wisdom from our valued members.
New Marin CAMFT members are welcome. If you’re interested in helping our community during critical incidents and disasters, please attend a few of our meetings and consider joining our Trauma Response Team. Let’s move forward in offering support to our community as disaster mental health workers.
Wildfire season is here and Marin is in a serious drought. Our rainfall levels over the past year have been the lowest on record in more than 140 years. Marin residents may experience new levels of anxiety and fear due to the intensity and duration of wildfires in the past few years. How do we prepare ourselves and support our clients? UCSF Department of Psychiatry posted a timely article, Coping with Wildfires and Climate Change Crises, at psych.ucsf.edu.
We wish you all an enjoyable and safe summer that includes people, places, and experiences that we have all missed during this challenging year.
Spring 2021 Update from Marin CAMFT's Trauma Response Team
Marin CAMFT’s Trauma Response Team
invites members who are interested in learning more about our team to
attend our monthly Zoom meeting, typically held on the third Friday of
every month at 11:00 am PT, though sometimes this schedule varies.
Please RSVP to bethleibmft@gmail.com if
you're interested in joining us and we will confirm the next meeting
and you'll be on the list to get the Zoom link. We are looking forward
to seeing you!
We have several projects underway for 2021:
- building our skills as a trauma response team
- our
new School Crisis Team, already in the works and then accelerated due
to the tragedies of youth suicide in our community in early 2021
- offering pro bono sessions to those most affected by COVID-19
We encourage you to join our team at this intersection, where we meld former members and their expertise with new members who are adding positive energy and enthusiasm. You may contact any of the Co-Chairs below if you would like more information or to get involved.
Winter 2021 Update from Marin CAMFT's Trauma Response Team
Marin
CAMFT’s Trauma Response Team invites members who are interested in
learning more about our team to attend our monthly Zoom meeting this
Friday, January 22nd at 11 am. Please RSVP to bethleibmft@gmail.com by 12 noon on Thursday, January 21st in order to receive the Zoom link for this meeting. We are looking forward to seeing you!
We are excited about our upcoming speakers including Tammie Grant, Melissa d’Amore and Pam Lister.
We encourage you to join our team at this intersection, where we meld
former members and their expertise with new members who are adding
positive energy and enthusiasm. You may contact any of the Co-Chairs
below if you would like more information or to get involved.
Marin CAMFT’s Trauma Response Team invites members who are interested in
learning more about our team to attend our monthly Zoom meeting this
Friday, January 22nd at 11 am. Please RSVP to bethleibmft@gmail.com by 12 noon on Thursday, January 21st in order to receive the Zoom link for this meeting. We are looking forward to seeing you!
Fall 2020 Update from Marin CAMFT's Trauma Response Team
Here are highlights from the Trauma Response Team:
Psychological First Aid
Co-Chair Kathleen Ries presented an engaging quiz on Psychological First Aid (PFA) principles at our August monthly meeting. PFA is usually required in a significant disaster or collective trauma such as wildfires or a global pandemic. While attending to others in a disaster, trauma response workers need to remain calm in an often chaotic environment. Our calm presence, tone of voice, eye contact, and confidence have a huge impact on others. Attunement, empathy, and stabilization are keys to soothing, grounding, and helping others to self-regulate and strengthen their resilience. Connectedness counterbalances adversity.
In a disaster, the licensed mental health professional triages three levels of reactions: normal stress reactions; severe stress reactions; and reactions that pose a potential danger to self and others. PFA skills also provide the framework for our own self-care, connecting to others with kindness, calm and compassion, helping people feel safe, meeting people’s basic needs, encouraging good coping, giving realistic reassurances, connecting people with their local resources and support systems, and giving accurate and timely information.
Update on current local collective traumas
Dennis Scremin, our liaison for the Red Cross, reported on the numerous fires and evacuations in the Bay area. The challenges of managing an evacuation while addressing the needs of social distancing, hand washing, cleaning, and mask wearing are enormous.
Speakers at our monthly meetings
Our team is enjoying and benefitting from our recent addition of speakers at our monthly meetings. Dennis Scremin spoke at our September meeting. On October 16 at 11 am, Melissa d’Amore will be speaking on Disaster Mental Health and Trauma Recovery. On November 20, Pam Lister will speak on being “in the field” during deployment and will share some of her positive, uplifting experiences.
Our three exciting areas of focus
We are excited about the educational component of our meetings as well as the engagement of our team with the community. It has been rewarding to get to know our new team members. While we understand that Covid-19 has changed our lives and perhaps affected some of our commitments, we are hoping that more of you will attend our next TRT Zoom meeting on October 16. If you'd like to attend this online meeting, or want more information, please email any of the three co-chairs below. We want to learn more about each of you, as well as determine who is interested in our three main areas of focus for the months ahead. These areas of focus include:
1) Disaster Response Team Activity in conjunction with the Marin Red Cross Mental Health Team.
2) School Crisis Counseling for students, school staff, and parents. The location will be announced as a pilot when approval has been secured.
3) Pro Bono Mental Health Services for those most impacted by Covid-19, including first responders and survivors (2 or 3 sessions to help people find resources and cope.)
Please let us know if you would like to get involved with our School Crisis Counseling Pilot and/or our Pro Bono Covid-19 Mental Health Services. We invite Marin CAMFT therapists to join our Trauma Response Team and help us launch these two new programs.
We are looking forward to connecting with you, expanding our team, and serving our beautiful community in the months ahead.
Trauma Response Team Co-Chairs
Marin CAMFT Trauma and Disaster Response Team - Winter 2019
Committee Co-Chairs Dee Treshnell and Beth Leib
Co-Chairs, Beth Leib and Dee Treshnell, of Marin CAMFT’S Trauma and Disaster Response Team met one year ago with former leaders of the team to begin the process of continuing the work of this important and historic Marin CAMFT group.
At our first meeting, we developed goals of increasing membership, getting the team up to date in course work in Disaster Mental Health and Psychological First Aid training, establishing volunteer status with the Red Cross, and developing a sub-group within the team that would assist schools in crisis, trauma, and disaster response.
Since that time, we have increased membership, attended several Psychological First Aid and Disaster Mental Health courses, established an initial contact with several schools and begun to liaison with the Red Cross. Our team also recently initiated and sponsored our first Marin CAMFT course/training in Disaster Psychology and Response, led by Dana Nussbaum and Ron Reynolds, both established Disaster Mental Health instructors and responders. The course introduced mental health workers to the practical and psychological aspects of engaging in disaster response as a health clinician. We were delighted with the turn out and success of this event.
The team also held a meeting at the Mill Valley Community Center on March 22, which included both new and experienced members. Dennis Scremin, who is both a Red Cross liaison and a long-time TRDT member, informed the group about the benefits of aligning with the Red Cross and specifically about the courses offered. Another long-time member, Melinda Marmer reported to the group about Disaster Mental Health Response and working with children and trauma. We briefly reviewed the successes and challenges of the past year and set goals for 2019. The fact that we are moving forward and have a committed team is certainly a success. The major challenges ahead are to keep connections we have established and to expand our resources.
This year, with traumatic fires, floods and school events, we have learned the importance of having a team in place to serve local, statewide and national disasters. Collaboration is important in terms of bringing our agencies together to create a strong and diverse team that is ready to respond to the ever-increasing challenges of Disaster Response.
At this time, we would also like to thank members of the previous team (particularly Dennis Scremin and Jacqueline Ladrech) and the entire Marin CAMFT Board, who have supported us throughout this year as we re-establish a team that has historically been an important part of Marin CAMFT and the Red Cross.
We also wish to announce that the Trauma and Disaster Response Team is now on the Marin CAMFT website, again! The webpage with lots of useful info is accessible via an easy to find button on the home page or by clicking HERE.
We are excited about working with our team and putting plans in motion.
Winter 2016 Newsletter article, JACQUE LADRECH (Past Committee Chair)
2015 has been an active year for the TRT. First of all, Elizabeth Thompson has retired from co-chairing the team after many years of dedicated work for the team and for the field of disaster mental health through her work with the Red Cross and the County of Marin. Thank you Elizabeth, for all that you have contributed.
In May and June members of the team participated in updated trainings with the Red Cross, and, now, they are all “on boarded”, and ready to respond with the Red Cross. In October we had a DMH/Critical Incident training given by Greg Child, LMFT. In the spring we are planning a meeting with Kate Garay, who is the MRC (Medical Reserve Corp) lead for Marin County. She is going to introduce the team to the possibility of working with the MRC. This would give us another responding organization to partner with. More detains on that meeting to come. It has been our team philosophy to continue to participate in trainings in order to be current and ready to respond to an event that we hope never happens.
In November I was able to help the victims of the Valley Fire through the Red Cross, the MRC and through CCN (Crisis Care Network). It was very sad to see the terrible devastation caused by the drought fueled, fast moving fire in Lake County. There were so many people who literally ran for their lives, and lost their homes, cars, businesses and sense of safety. It was very rewarding being able to play a small part in their recovery and journey to start rebuilding their lives. Unfortunately, their needs will be great and will continue for a long time.
Winter 2017 Newsletter article, WILLIAM BARTON (Past Committee Chair)
Thanks to all who attended the fantastic workshop in late October held at the Marin Emergency Operations Center (EOP) 1600 Los Gamos, San Rafael and led ably by experienced trauma response veteran, Frank Cox. The overall topic was being prepared for “The Big One”. We had approximately 30 in attendance for the 4-hour presentation, which included an enlightening tour of the huge rooms that are set up for disaster response adjacent to another large room housing our community 911 call center. It is very impressive facility and well staffed. I hope that we can have a similar experience every two to three years to help team members have a clearer pulse on how our county operates.
As the new Trauma Response Team Chair, I inherit big shoes to fill for the wonderful dedication and service that Jacqueline Ladrech has supplied since our team inception in 1991. Our entire team thanks her and Elizabeth Thompson, who worked side-by-side for years teaching us. We are seeking to expand our team and add new members as the old guard is aging! I intend to have two team meetings a year and will work to provide one of those as a CEU workshop/training. Please consider joining our team today and contact me for an application. I intend to reach out to county psychologists to see if some might consider joining our team as well. While earthquakes are a constant potential disaster, we are vulnerable to other types of emergencies, as well.
The Oakland warehouse fire has affected us all on some level. Devastatingly sad. With the change in political climate and unknowns ahead many of our families and immigrant families in particular are on high alert and very fearful. School children of all ages are being traumatized. Perhaps our team can work to provide a pro bono benefit to offer help to the overloaded school counselors. I welcome your support, ideas and help to make our team even better. I also would like to emphasize that each team member should endeavor to be as well prepared as possible and not procrastinate on setting up their homes and cars for the unexpected!