The David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics recently received two grants to assist trauma victims of neighborhood violence in the Syracuse area. The exact value of the grants has not been made public.

The grants, awarded to the school by the Central New York Community Foundation and the John Ben Snow Foundation, will be used to provide workshops for local service workers and organizations to learn how to identify and treat symptoms of trauma. The two foundations have been in service for more than 40 years, and have awarded millions of dollars in community funding grants to the Central New York area.

Linda Stone Fish, a professor of marriage and family therapy at Syracuse University, was the principal investigator of these grants. Stone Fish researched, applied for and eventually won the grants on behalf of the university.

“Our goal is to pool our resources to help local practitioners who work in high violence and traumatic neighborhoods in the city who are in critical need of, and deserve cutting-edge, evidence-based training in trauma informed practice,” said Stone Fish, a specialist in family therapy with complex trauma.

The backbone of Stone Fish’s plan is a model known as the Collaborative Change Model. This model will help trauma professionals through training and consultations offered by specialists within the university, she said.

With an annual average of 55.8 violent crimes per 1,000 people, Syracuse is safer than only six percent of the nation’s cities, according to Neighborhood Scout. Stone Fish’s mission is to make community access to trauma relief as convenient and reliable as it is at SU.

“We hope to help the community by making the culturally sensitive and trauma-informed services we provide in the Syracuse University’s Couple and Family Therapy Center more accessible to community members,” Stone Fish said.

These grants are the latest in a long line of community initiatives that Falk College has been pursuing. Merril Silverstein, the Marjorie Cantor professor of aging studies, was recently awarded a $1.49 million grant to investigate outcomes of religious engagement later in life. Rashmi Gangamma, a professor of marriage and family therapy, was given an opportunity to investigate family experiences of Iraqi refugees resettled in Syracuse.

Tracey Reichert Schimpff, director of clinical services at Falk College, has been charged with leading the liaison for assisting trauma victims between the university and the community.

“My role is really to oversee the Couple and Family Therapy Center and supervise students who may have a role in providing therapeutic services to those identified via the Trauma Response Team,” Reichart Schimpff said.

Under Reichart Schimpff, students and staff will be able to work directly with local trauma victims and organizations, and better understand how to help these victims.

Published on September 1, 2015 at 10:00 pm

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