Local children's organizations win national awards
Two organizations that champion the needs of children in the Southern Illinois area received national recognition for their work on Tuesday.
In a ceremony at John A. Logan College, the Poshard Foundation for Abused Children, SIU School of Medicine, and the Children's Medical and Mental Resource Network in Anna were honored for their work with the Trauma Informed Systems of Care Learning Collaborative, with two gold awards on the national level from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
They were nominated for the awards by representatives of Egyptian Health Services in Eldorado.
The awards recognize the 18-month-long TISCLC, which partnered with 40 agencies and programs in Southern Illinois to train all involved in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT). The training began in February 2015 and ended in June 2016, bringing a total of 64 additional TF-CBT therapists to the Southern Illinois area, where there was previously only one.
"The number was falling woefully short of the need," Jo Poshard, co-founder of the Poshard Foundation said. The ultimate goal of the collaborative was to ensure that children in Southern Illinois who were in need of assistance in coping with abuse would not go without.
"As part of the training, 191 children and teens received specialized trauma counseling under supervision," she said.
The collaborative was nominated for the awards by Dr. Matt Buckman and Angie Hampton. Buckman works with Project Connect/Egyptian Public and Mental Health Department in Eldorado and serves as an advisory board member for the Children's Medical and Mental Health Resource Network. Hampton serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Egyptian Health.
"I love that we are all working together to build a great system of care that provides effective services…within a very competent and very compassionate system of care," Hampton said.
The collaborative began in July 2014, when the Children's Medical and Mental Health Resource Network, an offshoot of the SIU School of Medicine, received a $100,000 grant from the Poshard Foundation to create a Mental Health Resource Network in the southern 23 counties in Illinois.
The purpose of the network was to increase the number of mental health professionals in the region with an 18-month-learning collaborative on TF-CBT, an evidence-based treatment used to treat children who have experienced trauma such as abuse.
"Our foundation viewed our contribution as a way of having a long-term effect in helping traumatized children in Southern Illinois. We believe our investment is profoundly changing the lives and futures of abused children," Poshard said.