Grant Funding Supports Training for Maui Youth & Family Services Staff

Sixteen employees from Maui Youth & Family Services attended a professional development conference hosted by the Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma thanks to a grant from the HMSA Foundation and American Savings Bank.

The 15th Annual Hawai’i International Summit on Preventing, Assessing & Treating Trauma Across the Lifespan took place on April 17-19, 2018 at the Hawai’i Convention Center on ‘Oahu. The conference centered around the long-term effects of childhood trauma and its psychological, behavioral and neuro-developmental consequences.

“We are deeply grateful to the HMSA Foundation and American Savings Bank for making it possible for us to attend this extraordinarily beneficial conference,” said Susan Pirsch, MC/LMFT, Maui Youth & Family Services Clinical Director. “We work with youth every day who have been traumatized, abused or victimized at some point in their life. Our staff left the training with a better understanding of where our clients are coming from and ready to utilize the many practical techniques that were presented.”

Maui Youth and Family Services empowers youth and families challenged with behavioral health issues to become responsible, self-fulfilled and contributing members of their community. Its programs include substance abuse treatment, emergency shelter services, therapeutic foster care, outreach and advocacy, and support for homeless and former foster youth.

For more information about Maui Youth & Family Services, go to myfs.org.