PASE travels to Israel to present model for helping youth address trauma

Executive Director of New York City non-profit shares best practices at international conference

NEW YORK CITY – January 9, 2009: Dr. Shelly Wimpfheimer, LMSW, the executive director of the Partnership for After School Education (PASE), recently traveled to Jerusalem to present on PASE’s Partners in Healing program, which builds the capacity of community-based organizations to help youth deal with traumatic experiences.

PASE created Partners in Healing to address the social and emotional fallout from the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City. Since that time, Partners in Healing has worked with over 65 community-based organizations serving more than 13,000 young people citywide, building their capacity to integrate mental health services by providing training and technical assistance for youth workers; placing social work interns, supervised by licensed clinical social work supervisors, in afterschool programs; promoting best practices and facilitating collaboration through citywide forums; and developing and publishing information and resources. 

An evaluation report by New York University indicated that Partners in Healing was an overall success with respect to reaching targeted goals. Interventions by social work interns had a positive impact on pro-social attitudes (such as an increase in respect, positive self-image, and non-aggressive conflict resolution strategies) and behaviors (such as increased collaboration, encouragement towards peers to work hard in school and to defend peers in conflict situations).  

Dr. Wimpfheimer presented on the project on Thursday, January 8^th at "Crisis as an Opportunity: Organizational and Professional Responses to Disasters" at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Co-sponsored by Ben Gurion University Department of Social Work and Rutgers University School of Social Work, the conference focused on the development of long-term interventions following natural and human-made disasters. 

Dr. Wimpfheimer and PASE were thrilled at the opportunity to inform others about the success of Partners in Healing and hope that this conference will spark interest in replicating this model elsewhere. 

View the Presentation

The Partnership for After School Education is a child-focused organization that promotes and supports quality afterschool programs, particularly those serving young people from underserved communities.  

For more information about PASE and Partners in Healing, please contact Marty McConnell at mmcconnell@pasesetter.org or call 212-571-2664.