Relevant Field Experience

Loma Prieta Earthquake, 1989

• Provided on-scene support services for emergency services personnel at the site of freeway collapse; helped organize and deliver a CISM training for 200 mental health professionals in Santa Cruz during the first week of the incident; provided on-scene support for the homeless population and post-incident debriefings for mental health workers.

Landers Earthquake, l992

• Provided post-incident CISM services for first responders and their families; provided on-scene mental health services for American Red Cross personnel and conducted outreach program.

Los Angeles Riots, l992

• Served as a CISD debriefer for two battalions (three platoons each) of firefighters and paramedics for the Los Angeles City Fire Department following the riots. Conducted numerous critical incident stress debriefings across all three shifts for two battalions for approximately 400 firefighters, and firefighter paramedics; organizational consultation for command staff; and cumulative stress debriefings.

Burlington Avenue Apartment Fire, 1993

• Served as a CISM team leader for the LA City Fire Department and debriefed three battalions of firefighters and paramedics who were directly involved in the search and rescue portion of this fire that resulted in 12 fatalities, including nine children under the age of nine. Provided post-incident interventions, including one-to-ones and follow-up services for surviving victims of the fire as well as Red Cross personnel.

Pacific Electricord Shootings, l993

• Served as a CISM team leader and conducted debriefings and follow-up services for eyewitnesses of this multiple fatality murder/suicide.

San Francisco High-Rise Shootings, l993

• Provided post-incident debriefings for secondary victims of a parent company in Los Angeles that lost an employee in this multiple fatality murder/suicide.

Southern California Firestorms, l993

• Provided on-scene and post-incident defusing, debriefings, and individual interventions for victims of the fires in Altadena, Malibu, and Topanga, as well as Red Cross personnel.

Northridge Earthquake, 1994

• Provided direct CISM services, including defusings, debriefings, demobilizations, consultations, and one-to-one interventions for numerous survivors, firefighters, paramedics, and hospital-based personnel who responded to this earthquake, including but not limited to the Governor's Office of Emergency Services, Urban Search and Rescue Division; the American Red Cross; the Los Angeles City Fire Department; the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health; and FEMA.

Holiday Inn Shootings, l994

• Provided post-incident debriefing for the firefighters and paramedics who were first to respond to this multiple fatality shooting in which two police officers died in the line of duty.

South Canyon Fire, l994

• Provided CISM services, including defusings, debriefings, one-to-one interventions, and consults for incident commanders; replacement fire crews; WSAR team, which conducted body extractions; morgue and mortuary personnel; medical personnel, elected officials, and several survivors of this burnover, which took the lives of 14 firefighters in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

Piper Tech Shootings, 1994

• Provided CISM services to survivors of this shooting, which resulted in the deaths of four employees.

BOC Gas Explosion, 1995

• Provided debriefings and one-to-one interventions for employees and management team related to this fatal hydrogen explosion.

Oklahoma City Bombing, 1995

• Provided defusings and one-to-one interventions for spontaneous civilian first responders in Oklahoma City, post-incident, as well as one-to-ones with returning firefighters and technical rescue specialists involved in rescue efforts and body extractions.

Edwards Air Force Base Crash, 1997

• Provided debriefing and one-to-one interventions for pilots and ground support personnel as well as consultation for on-site mental health personnel who were responding to this multi-fatality air crash.

Los Angeles Fire Department LODD, 1998

• Provided one-to-one interventions for LAFD personnel, post-incident, related to this structure fire that resulted in the line of duty death of a firefighter.

Los Angeles Fire Department Crash of Air Three, 1998

• Provided defusings, debriefings, and one-to-one interventions for several engine and truck companies as well as paramedics who responded to the scene of this air crash that resulted in the deaths of three firefighters and one civilian patient who was being transported by air ambulance to a local trauma center. Provided consultations, one-to-one support, CISDs, and follow-up for the initial responding station that subsequently lost two paramedics in the helicopter crash. Provided the same services for first responding companies on the scene.

Crash of Alaska Air Flight 261, 2000

• Provided immediate on-scene and post-incident support at LAX in the aftermath of the crash for airline personnel, including pilots, support air crew members, and ground crews. Services provided included organizational consultations, CISDs, defusings, one-to-ones, follow-up, and referrals.

September 11, 2001, Terrorist Attacks

• Provided on-scene support, including organizational consultation to the FDNY and the Salvation Army for approximately 200 personnel on the pile of the World Trade Center, including CMBs, demobilizations, and one-to-one interventions at Hydration Station # 1. As the first Disaster Mental Health Specialist to work directly on The Pile at Ground Zero, I initiated additional safety protocols for outreach in order to directly provide essential services to emergency personnel working on the pile. These protocols were adopted and used for the remaining eight months of the recovery efforts.

NASA Columbia Space Shuttle Tragedy, 2003

• Provided post-incident CISM services to NASA personnel at the Dryden Space Center at Edwards Air Force Base, including consultations, CMBs, CISDs, one-to-ones, follow-ups, and referrals.

Hurricane Katrina, 2005

• Provided disaster mental health services through the American Red Cross, for refugees in Los Angeles who relocated from the Ninth Ward in New Orleans.

Metrolink Train Crash, 2008

• Provided consultation to on-scene responders from the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Homeland Security, Crisis Response Team, as well as on-scene support- hydration and consultation for management, in support of emergency department personnel at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, who were treating multiple critical patients.

EF-5 Tornado, Joplin, Missouri, 2011

• Provided consultation and direct, on-scene support in Joplin for the Salvation Army Emotional and Spiritual Care Unit for civilian survivors, first and secondary responders, and healthcare providers, including incident commanders, one-to-one interventions, debriefings, demobilizations, follow-up, and referral as needed.

Multiple fatality incidents in Los Angeles, 2014

• Provided consultations to the Mayor’s Office Crisis Response Team related to multiple fatality shootings in Los Angeles.

Wildland Fires in Pacific Northwest, 2015

• Provided consultation to the National Interagency Fire Center in the wake of multiple firefighter deaths.

Valley and Butte Fires, 2015

• Provided consultations with multiple entities within CAMFT who were directly involved in relief efforts for survivors of these major wildland fires In Northern California that impacted Napa, Sonoma, and Calistoga counties. Helped provide handouts; served as a consultant to CAMFT media relations; advised and worked with CAMFT President and the CAMFT Crisis Response Education and Resource Committee to help develop initial Incident Action Plans and follow-up services for RECAMFT.

Las Vegas Shooting Massacre, 2017

• Provided on-scene/post-incident support for first responders, including one-to-ones, debriefing, and organizational consultation for Las Vegas Metro Police Department uniformed officers, and the LVMPD PEAP; invited presentation of a two-day training in Group Crisis Intervention for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, School of Medicine, in the wake of the shooting massacre of October 1st.

Borderline Bar & Grill Shooting Massacre, 2018

• Provided pro-bono crisis intervention for survivors and secondary victims of this multi-fatality incident.

Woolsey Fire, 2018

• Provided crisis response counseling for survivors of recent Malibu fires who lost their homes.

COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020 to present

• Currently providing crisis intervention counseling for frontline healthcare providers during this pandemic.

War in Ukraine, 2022

• Currently providing crisis intervention consultations for various NGOs conducting relief operations for war refugees both inside and adjacent to Ukraine.

Oct. 7, 2023 Massacre of Israelis 

• Currently providing crisis intervention services for those who have family members residing in Israel.  Also, providing mental health services for those who are being secondarily impacted by increasing antisemitism.