A Letter from the Executive
Director
Dearest colleagues, friends, children, families and
communities of the Child HELP Partnership,
Through my years of clinical work, I recognized the need to
advocate for children who couldn’t speak for themselves—children
who had been victimized by sexual and physical violence. I had been
exposed to children who repeatedly were not given the same
opportunities and best services. In the hope to address this
gap, I founded the Child HELP Partnership in 2001 on the core
values of respect, diversity, and equality for all.
Our organization is called the Child HELP Partnership to convey
three main messages. First of all, we are dedicated to
children—preschoolers, elementary-school aged children, and
adolescents—and the caregivers who are trying to raise
them. Both growing up and raising children in this day and age
are challenges. Second, we aim to provide help. We are
dedicated to: healing children after they have suffered through
trauma by providing therapies that have been proven to work, and
preventing abuse and injury from happening. The Word
partnership conveys how we think this help is most likely to
happen. It’s all about partnerships between families and
therapists who come together to help children. The goal is to
create a stronger bond between the parent and the child: a
partnership. We as a team connect with the community; we have
a duty to the community and we learn from the community. We
try to empowering the multicultural communities we serve by
adapting these services for them, We try to enhance the Learning of
professionals across the country by training them in proven
approaches to assessment and therapy
Thus, the Child HELP (Heal, Empower, Learn, Prevent) Partnership
identifies children and families who have been through scary,
difficult and extremely sad times and who struggle to move on from
those stressful life events. Services help clients ease their
pain and prevent the development of more difficult problems down
the road.
We believe in the inner strength of children and
families. We know that if we intervene in a timely way
we can reconnect children to their families, to their educational
success, to their peers. We can also reduce the anxiety,
depression, and the anger they may be feeling.
We believe that the emotional and behavioral reactions that
children have to trauma are, to a certain degree, expected; they
are typical, they are understandable. But it doesn’t mean
they can’t be helped. And that is where the Child HELP
Partnership comes in.
As the Executive Director of the Child HELP Partnership, I feel
strongly that I have a responsibility to our children of today and
tomorrow. That is why training is such a key part of what we
do. We partner with other professionals in the community to
extend their already strong knowledge-base with the goal of growing
more expertise in the area of trauma and stress.
I believe that the Child HELP Partnership helps directly by working
with families and children. We reach a broader community
through our training endeavors and we reach an even broader
community through our research endeavors. Our team is
dedicated to publishing and presenting the findings from the
studies we conduct. We conduct these studies using
state-of-the-art science to allow us to draw conclusions about what
might best serve families. In the broadest way, the Child
HELP Partnership is a partnership between academic settings where
science is developed and the real world where science should be
implemented.
All of the above represents my view, my mission, my vision, my
daily goals and responsibilities. Why do I do this work? How
do I do this work? The answer is: the families. I am humbled by
every client with whom I have had the pleasure to work, either
directly as a clinician or indirectly with my trainees and the
other professionals with whom I work. What children and
adults can go through and grow from is amazing to me. Every
story is a beautiful one and again a humbling one. I feel so
honored to work with the children and families who choose to come
to the Child HELP Partnership.
I am incredibly blessed to have graduate students in psychology
from across the country elect to work with me. Additionally,
I have a wonderful multi-disciplinary staff who are dedicated to
changing the life of traumatized children. Lastly, I have
been honored to be mentored by and collaborate with national and
international experts in the areas of trauma and stress.
This is my life’s purpose and I am thankful everyday for the
ability to do this work.
Thank you so much for your generous support of and participation in
the Child HELP Partnership. May this new year of 2012-2013 be
full of healing, strength, and sharing.
Sincerely yours,
Elissa J. Brown, Ph.D.
Executive Director of the Child HELP
Partnership