Support for Students Exposed to Trauma (SSET)
Support for Students Exposed to Trauma (SSET) was developed by researchers at the RAND Corp. in collaboration with Dr. Marleen Wong, an Assistant Dean in the USC School of Social Work and a co-principal investigator for Building Capacity. SSET is based on their group intervention program called Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS). Both programs are aimed at relieving symptoms of post-traumatic distress, depression and general anxiety for children exposed to trauma, such as witnessing or being a victim of violence, being abused, or being in a disaster.
The program was not originally intended for military children, but we believe it can apply to many of the situations they might be facing. While CBITS is led by mental health professionals, SSET is designed to be used by teachers and even graduate students. We believe training our interns and others in the consortium on this program would give them additional strategies for responding to emotional difficulties that military students might be bringing with them into the classroom.
For more information and a link to the free E-book, please click here.
Building Capacity Highlights
- The Building Capacity team released two reports summarizing the second year of our project. The first report is our Annual Report which describes all our activities for policy makers and the general public. The second report is a detailed technical evaluation that includes an independent empirical evaluation of programs and training components developed during year two of the project.
- Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC), the Building Capacity in Military-Connected Schools project at USC and the USC Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families (CIR) hosted a successful California Public Engagement.
- Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, visited USC to learn more about the Building Capacity project.
- San Diego State University joined USC in placing interns in military-connected schools. Regional workshops brought training on school safety and threat assessment to both interns and school staff members.
- The California Healthy Kids Survey was changed to ask all students whether they have a parent or caretaker in the military.
- Interns were provided training in a modified, school-based version of the FOCUS program from experts at UCLA.
- The Navy's Family Readiness Express (FRE) visited several schools in the Consortium.
- Undergraduates in UCSD's Partners at Learning (PAL) program provided tutoring to students in military-connected schools.
- Following the Newton, CT shooting, the American Council for School Social Work (ACSSW) shared a Trauma Resources Document.
- In response to the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, a position statement of the Interdisciplinary Group on Preventing School and Community Violence, co-authored by Dr. Ron Astor and endorsed by more than 200 prevention scholars and practitioners was released in December 2012.
- California Healthy Kids Survey
- Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families, USC School of Social Work
- Hamovitch Center for Science in the Human Services, USC School of Social Work
- USC School of Social Work
- School Liaison Officers, Camp Pendleton, Marine Corps
- School Liaison Officers, Naval Base, San Diego
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