June 2004

Yale University

National Center for Children Exposed to Violence begins annual conference today

The National Center for Children Exposed to Violence (NCCEV), at the Yale Child Study Center is hosting the 7th annual Child Development-Community Policing Program (CD-CP) Multi-Site Conference at the Yale Child Study Center, 230 South Frontage Rd., Donald J. Cohen Auditorium.

The two-day conference begins today from 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. and continue on Friday June 18 from 8:00 a.m. to 12. Representatives from 15 CD-CP sites will attend the conference. Sites represented include New Haven, Bridgeport, Stamford and Guilford, Conn.; Chelsea, MA, Rochester NY, Baltimore, MD, Charlotte, Chatham County and Raleigh, NC; Clearwater, FL; Nashville, TN; Sitka, AK; and Providence, RI.

The CD-CP Program was established in 1991 and formed the basis of the NCCEV, established in 1999. The program is directed by Steven Marans, the Harris Associate Professor of Child Psychoanalysis and psychiatry at the Yale Child Study Center. NCCEV's goals are to raise public awareness about the effects of exposure to violence, provide training and technical assistance in the CD-CP Program model to communities nationwide, and to serve as a national resource center for professionals and the public on children's exposure to violence.

Central to the CD-CP Program is an round-the-clock acute response consultation service, where mental health professionals along with police respond to crises. Children and families exposed to violence and trauma are provided with clinical services at the scene of the incident with follow-up, and with referral for ongoing services.

"We are strongly committed to furthering the program's goals of nurturing child development in the face of psychological trauma," said Marans.

Conference topics include recent developments at individual sites, challenges to the work, and ongoing activities to encourage sustainability of the program. The meeting provides a yearly forum for communities trained in the Child Development-Community Policing Program. It is a model collaboration of professionals representing mental health, law enforcement, juvenile justice, and the schools, who work with children and families on diminishing the effects of violence exposure.

The newly designated NCCEV Southeast Regional Training Center in Charlotte, North Carolina has been instrumental in coordinating the activities for the conference. For more information on NCCEV or the conference, please contact Colleen Vadala at 203-785-7047 or [email protected]




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