Supporting Youth in the Aftermath of Crisis, Trauma, and Loss: A Clinician’s Guide

Program Number: 25CE00071
July 11, 2025
8:00am-12:15pm
Courtyard Marriot Lincoln Downtown/Haymarket
808 R Street Lincoln, NE 65808

Activity Description

Segment 1: Supporting Youth Exposed to Trauma and Loss
The experiences of both trauma and bereavement in children and adolescents are widespread and can have lasting impacts on their mental health and ability to learn. For this reason, it is essential for mental health professionals who work with youth to utilize a trauma- and bereavement-informed lens when providing support. This segment will provide an overview of how to recognize signs of distress in children who have been exposed to trauma and/or loss and best practices mental health professionals can apply when providing support. Additionally, the training will discuss strategies for supporting children in the aftermath of a traumatic event, including mass violence.

Segment 2: Beyond Burnout: Exploring the Cost of Caring
School counselors, mental health clinicians, and others in helping professions must face the strenuous task of caring for others while also caring for their loved ones and themselves. This segment explores how our work as helping professionals can impact us individually. Participants will be given tools to decrease risk for compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, secondary traumatic stress, and burn-out. Discussion will also explore ways to enhance compassion, satisfaction, and resilience through individualized strategies. This presentation seeks to re-frame the way we think about "self-care.""

Target Audience

This accredited continuing education activity is designed for social workers, clinical mental health therapists, school counselors, and psychologists.

Educational Objectives

At the conclusion of this activity, the participants should be better able to:

• Describe how to use a trauma- and bereavement-informed framework to support the emotional well-being and academic success of children and adolescents.
• Identify key indicators of trauma and grief in youth and their impact on mental health and learning.
• Discuss practical post-tragedy strategies and communication methods to support youth after traumatic events, including mass violence, with sensitivity and care.
• Define differences between secondary traumatic stress, vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, and burnout, as well as how to recognize these in themselves and others.
• Recognize how the indirect exposure to trauma and loss can negatively impact personal well-being of mental health professionals.
• Identify protective factors and strategies to enhance compassion satisfaction and vicarious resilience.

Presented by Marisa Nowitz, MSW, LCSW-S
Vice President of Education and Training
Trauma and Grief Center, Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute

Marisa Nowitz, MSW, LCSW-S is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker-Supervisor with over twenty years of clinical experience, as well as expertise in education, training, and program development. As Vice President of Education and Training at the Trauma and Grief (TAG) Center, Marisa directs the training program and provides school and community-based trainings in a variety of mental health topics related to supporting youth exposed to trauma and loss. In her previous role at the TAG Center, Marisa supervised a clinical team and provided evidence-based, trauma- and bereavement-focused services as part of the coordinated response efforts in the community of Santa Fe, TX following the tragic school shooting in 2018. Prior to joining the TAG Center, Marisa spent much of her career working as a clinical social worker and supervisor at MD Anderson Cancer Center, creating programming for children whose parents had cancer. Marisa completed her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Texas A&M University and a Master of Social Work from the University of Houston.

This event is being hosted by the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska (BHECN) and the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Counseling Department and is funded by the Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS).