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Project TLC

Learn about Project TLC in the Department of Counseling and School Psychology.

Funded for 5 years (2018) - $ 1.25 Million

  • Project Director: Tonika Duren Green Project Evaluator: Sally Mathiesen (Social Work)
  • Project Specialist and Project Consultant: Ashley Kruger and Jennica Paz

Project TLC: Trauma Leaders Consortium: Fostering Positive Outcomes for Students with Disabilities in Foster Care

The Trauma Leaders Consortium (Project TLC) prepares school psychologists, school counselors, and school social workers to meet the unique and complex needs of students with disabilities in foster care who have experienced trauma. Through an interdisciplinary approach, TLC Scholar-Leaders will understand and respond to the effects of trauma on youth through the use of collaborative trauma-informed evidence-based practice.

Scholar-Leaders from all 3 disciplines will acquire effective prevention and intervention strategies and will be prepared to apply an interdisciplinary service-delivery model that is consistent with positive outcomes for foster youth with disabilities exposed to trauma. Each Scholar on TLC attends Think Tanks and Institutes, Grant Seminars, interdisciplinary fieldwork in high needs schools, professional conferences, and Inter-Professional Education Experiences. Additionally, during their 1st year on the grant, Scholar-Leaders participate in training as Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) through Voices for Children, a national non-profit organization based in San Diego designed to provide advocacy services to foster youth.

The CASA program provides training to empower Scholar-Leaders to address legal issues, determining and making recommendations about the living placement of the child, following the children's progress through various placements or services, and facilitating communication with all of the parties involved with a case.