Public Safety Trauma Response (PSTR)
KEY ACTIVITIES
- Conducted site visits and consultations with senior staff from peer support programs in Oklahoma City, Ireland, and Israel between May and October 2004. Lessons learned from site visits and consultations informed PSTR study survey and interview questions.
- Convened Coordinating Council in October 2004 comprised of national and local experts in trauma, police culture and peer support programs to finalize the PSTR study plan.
- Launched a dedicated website (www.nyu.edu/crv/pstr) in January 2005 that provides web-based resources and educational materials to assist public safety workers with the stress and trauma associated with work stress and other catastrophic events.
- Trauma and Violence Transdisciplinary Studies program launched at New York University in the Spring 2005. The program offers three options for study: a dual B.A. /M.A, a master’s degree, and an advanced certificate.
- Conducted a comprehensive review of the literature on police and peer support.
- Data collection for the PSTR study commenced in May 2005 and was completed in January 2007:
- 2,500 surveys distributed to New York City police officers regarding their knowledge of existing peer support programs available to them;
- Conducted multiple, in-depth, 60 minute individual interviews with senior program personnel from EIU and POPPA;
- Convened focus groups with volunteer peer support officers from POPPA;
- Conducted in-depth, 60 minute individual interviews with EIU peer counselors;
- Conducted in-depth, 60 minute individual interviews with NYPD officers who have or have not used EIU and/or POPPA;
- Conducted in-depth, 30 minute individual interviews with members of the POPPA clinician panel who provide on-going mental health counseling to officers referred by POPPA.