Mount Sinai Children After Trauma Care
and Health Program (CATCH)
Wellness
Following a disaster, many children will show transient changes in their
emotional and/or behavioral state, are not necessary indicators of illness,
and may actually represent positive aspects of coping with the event.
The following activities support the development of healthy coping, and
are the primary interventions required in schools at this time:
Parent education offers information to parents about how to interact
with children around the disaster
Faculty Development is a program that offers information to teachers
about normal and problematic adaptations to stress, including what
to look for and how to work with variations of behavior in the classroom
setting
Debriefing offers a systematic way for teachers and students to
discuss experiences and feelings related to the disaster in a developmentally
appropriate fashion
Support groups provide an opportunity for select children and/or
parents to process more complex feelings related to the disaster
Clinical Services
Fewer children and adolescents may experience psychological problems
following disaster, including problems with mood, sleep, anxiety and
post-traumatic stress. For many, these problems do not become fully
apparent until weeks or months after the trauma. The Mount Sinai CATCH
Program provides an array of services, which can be accessed as needed:
Individual and group therapy can provide a means of understanding
the nature of the stress response and why it is so problematic. They
can also help children to think differently about the event and develop
improved coping skills.
Family counseling can provide families with strategies for dealing
with problematic interactions that may follow the experience of a
disaster.
Trauma-focused cognitive and behavioral interventions are the most
effective techniques for changing how people think about a traumatic
event, and their behavioral responses. CATCH therapists are trained
in these methods.
Bereavement/grief counseling provides targeted intervention to
individuals who have suffered a recent loss and have sustained impairment
from bereavement
