counseling and family sciences

Sometimes you can't see the road ahead but as you keep going, it gets clearer. Stay the course as the fog of life dissipates. -Sanjo Jendayi

Since the COVID-19 crisis began, Systems, Families, & Couples PhD program graduate Danna Carter has been thinking about how best to contribute to the world in meaningful ways during this difficult time.

The other day a colleague asked me how I was doing and my response was: "Great. Um, pretty good. I mean, just okay, I guess." We both laughed heartily at my quickly changing state of mind, but also acknowledged its validity. I don't know about you, but the last few weeks have left me perplexed at my own responses to COVID-19. One moment I'm bored from not being able to leave my house and then next I'm overwhelmed by the state of the world and an uncertain future.

When a child experiences an injury or illness that requires an ambulance ride to a hospital, it can be a traumatic event. Often, pre-hospital providers such as paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) have minimal knowledge of traumatic stress in children. They haven’t been trained in utilizing coping techniques or the provision of psychosocial care to pediatric patients and their families.

Imagine being at a national convention when, all of a sudden, a book publisher approaches you with a request to write a book about the journey of becoming a marriage and family therapist. That’s exactly what happened to Jessica ChenFeng, PhD, LMFT, alumna of the Loma Linda University School of Behavioral Health’s Counseling and Family Sciences Department.

Loma Linda University’s Department of Counseling and Family Sciences (CFS) was well-represented at the 2019 American Family Therapy Academy (AFTA) Conference in Oakland, California. CFS students, faculty, and alumni were listed as presenters on just under twenty-five percent of the over sixty-five presentations given at this year’s conference.

In February of this year, Director of Clinical Training for the Child Life Specialist Program, Alisha Saavedra, was part of a Students for International Mission Service (SIMS) trip to Baja, Mexico. One of the locations that the SIMS group visited was Door of Faith Orphanage (DOFO) in La Misión.

The MEND (Mastering Each New Direction) team, led by Professor of Counseling and Family Sciences Dr. Brian Distelberg and alumnus Dr. Daniel Tapanes, have developed and implemented a program emphasizing mental health integration with chronic illness.

The Pediatric Brain and Spine Tumor Support Group provides emotional support and functions as a bridge between the medical and emotional needs of the patients and their families. The group was initiated by Dr.

The Child Life Specialist program has a bunch of exciting activities planned in celebration of Child Life Month! March 1 The program has been invited to attend Education Hour with the Child Life staff at Loma Linda University Children's Health. Allie's Helping Hands, a program that helps siblings of chronically ill children, will be presenting.