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College of Education and Human Development at The University of Texas at San Antonio Online Magazine

Comfort in Crisis
The new Academy for Crisis and Trauma Counseling hopes to provide mental health services those who need it the most

Comfort in crisis

The new Academy for Crisis and Trauma Counseling hopes to provide mental health services those who need it the most


Hardly a week goes by when we aren’t confronted with headlines of mass shootings, national disasters, or other traumatic events. When these crises take a personal turn, people in our community are left feeling angry, afraid, hurt, and in pain.

The Academy for Crisis and Trauma Counseling, an extension of the Department of Counseling’s Sarabia Family Counseling Center, will offer mental health services to assist individuals dealing with crisis situations, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or traumatic events.

“We are very excited about the new academy,” said Dr. Thelma Duffey, chair of the Department of Counseling and co-director of the academy. “We see this as another opportunity to connect with our community and provide enhanced resources specialized in crisis and trauma counseling. We also look forward to becoming a resource nationally, while training our students to work with people during times of crisis and following a traumatic loss.”

The new Academy for Crisis and Trauma Counseling hopes to provide mental health services those who need it the most
“I’d love for this academy to make a difference in the lives of people who are hurting.” -Dr. Thelma Duffey

The academy, which hopes to open its physical location at the UTSA Downtown Campus in the fall of 2017, will expand its existing services of one-on-one, family, couples, group counseling and biofeedback, to focus on treating individuals with complicated grief, trauma, and PTSD.

“We would also like to serve the military members of the community” said Duffey. “San Antonio is home to many military families, and we envision providing support and resources for families as they negotiate the deployment cycle.”

hey are also hoping to connect with the college’s Center for Military Families and local school districts.

“Dr. Elias Zambrano, who is our school counseling coordinator, has been working closely with San Antonio area Directors of Guidance and will lead the academy’s training and coordination efforts with area school districts,” said Duffey. “We are also engaged in partnerships with local non-profit agencies that help individuals, families and children facing crises.”

This mission to help those in crisis, Duffey said, is what inspired the creation of the academy. In 2014, Duffey was invited to provide consultation and training to counselors, teachers, and families from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. She and a group of faculty from the UTSA Department of Counseling met with the Newtown Recovery and Resiliency Team and its team leader, Deb Del Vecchio Scully, along with school administrators, counselors, and teachers. Months prior to the faculty members’ visit, a shooter had taken the lives of 26 children and teachers in one of the deadliest mass shootings in the United States. In February of this year, Duffey also provided training in creative interventions in grief and loss counseling to students at the Northern Illinois University, where five students were killed and 17 injured as a result of a school shooting eight years ago.

“We want to train our students to respond with compassion, knowledge, and advocacy for people facing crises and dealing with trauma,” said Duffey. “It is important that our students learn to serve our community through a well-supervised, hands-on experience.”

In addition to counseling services and counselor training, the academy also hopes to conduct research to investigate novel interventions and approaches to help people cope with traumatic events.

“I see the academy creating a community of faculty members and students involved in research, training, and service,” said Duffey.

While it is still in the planning stages, the academy hopes to become a beacon of light for those who are hurting in the San Antonio community and around the nation.

“I’d love for this academy to make a difference in the lives of people who are hurting,” said Duffey. “This is an opportunity to invest our passion and our training into something that can make an impact. And as students acquire these important skills, we hope their training will shape their practices for years to come.”

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