Trauma Recovery: Issues and Current Research
Friday, 10:30 AM - 12:15 PM
Sheraton Constitution A&B

Chair: Ann Masten, University of Minnesota

Katrina’s Children: Lessons Learned About Children in Disasters
Speakers: Joy D. Osofsky, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center and Howard J. Osofsky, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center

Biographical Sketch
Joy D. Osofsky, Ph.D. is a psychologist and psychoanalyst and Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. She is Head of the Division of Pediatric Mental Health. Dr. Osofsky is Director of the Violence Intervention Program for Children and Families and the Harris Center for Infant Mental Health at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. A recent publication (June, 2004), Young Children and Trauma: Intervention and Treatment, includes contributions related to mental health, child welfare, the judiciary, and law enforcement. Dr. Osofsky is President of Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families, Past-President of the World Association for Infant Mental Health and served on the Pew Commission for Children in Foster Care. Since 1997, she has been consulting with Judge Cindy Lederman, Administrative Judge of the Juvenile Court in Miami/Dade County, related to the development and evaluation of programs to benefit high risk young children and families in court. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, she has been asked to be the Clinical Consultant for Child and Adolescent Initiatives for Louisiana Spirit, the State Office of Mental Health Crisis Services Program.

Biographical Sketch
Howard J. Osofsky, M.D., Ph.D. is Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center and John and Kathleen Bricker Chair of Psychiatry. He also is a psychoanalyst on the faculty of the New Orleans Psychoanalytic Institute. Dr. Osofsky’s career is marked by a strong commitment to the community as evidenced by his many civic interests, service on city, state, and national boards, and senior roles in developing health services systems for the region and the state. For approximately the past decade, Dr. Osofsky has served as the court expert to monitor and update mental health services for adults and juveniles at the Orleans Parish Prison/jail and during the past five years as the state’s expert for Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. With a grant from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance, he has been developing model training programs for State Police and the National Guard to help families and children in dealing with the stresses and improving coping strengths in the face of war, terrorism, and violence as well as meeting the needs of the providers and their families. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, he was asked to be Clinical Director both for the State Office of Mental Health Crisis Services for Louisiana Spirit and for services for first responders and their families in Metropolitan New Orleans.

Abstract
A major lesson learned during and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is that our country has no clear disaster plan for children. Immediately following Hurricane Katrina and the breach in the levees, Joy and Howard Osofsky, both Professors at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans returned to Louisiana to help the many displaced children and families, traumatized first responders and their families, and, administratively, to work in rebuilding the destroyed behavioral and mental health infrastructure. They also assumed leadership responsibilities for Louisiana Spirit, the State Office of Mental Health Crisis Services Program. The presentations will focus on the immediate and continuing response of the LSUHSC Department of Psychiatry Trauma Team with displaced and returning children to the Metropolitan New Orleans area and outreach with first responders and their families. Data will be reported on National Child Traumatic Stress Network assessments of over 10,000 displaced children returning to the Metropolitan New Orleans area as well as assessments of displaced children in receiving parishes who were unable to return. High percentages of children report symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder and 49% qualified for mental health services. The presentations will include a discussion of resilience building and evidence based services implemented in school settings. Finally, consideration will be given to lessons learned based on work with children and families in the response to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath that can be applied in future disasters.