Conversation with Maria Trozzi
Sunday, September 22
11:15am
Meeting House
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Dear Church Family,
I know our community and our church are reeling from the losses of Charles and Elliott. To that end, we have engaged my dear friend and a member of my former church in Massachusetts, Maria Trozzi, to help the town, the school, and our church understand how best to respond to these tragedies and how we might move forward. Maria is a nationally recognized leader in community trauma and crisis response (bio below), and she will join us at 11:15am this Sunday. I understand how grief and trauma can evolve and exhaust over time, so our needs today may differ from our needs on Sunday. Maria will meet us where we are and facilitate whatever conversation we find helpful at that moment. I know many of you will have the opportunity to interact with Maria through school and town events this week; however, we wanted to ensure everyone is aware of this in-person opportunity.
Please feel free to share this information with anyone you think might benefit from it. All are welcome. I will be touching on these matters in worship on Sunday, particularly from the perspective of the amazing, nothing short of divine, provision I have witnessed throughout our community this week.
Yours in Christ,
Chapin
Maria Trozzi, M.Ed., is an assistant professor of pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine; Director of the nationally renowned Good Grief Program at Boston Medical Center, a consultant to the Child Development Unit at Children’s Hospital, and an author. Her credentials and expertise have established her as one of the foremost experts in the country on resilience as families, schools and communities face crises.
For the past three years, she has provided individual and group consultation and training workshops to Naval Special Warfare operators (SEALS) and their families pre- and post- deployment.
After Boston’s Marathon bombing, she provided crisis debriefing to the health care first responders as well as nearby affected schools and community organizations.
In the wake of the tragedy in Newtown, she continues to provide consultation, lectures and training to schools affected. She has provided crisis consultation after Columbine at Littleton, Colorado; Hurricane Katrina, at Ground Zero in the aftermath of 9/11; and in Grenada following Hurricane Ivan.
For nearly twenty years, as Director of the Good Grief Program, her training for educators and healthcare professionals focuses on promoting resilience in the face of loss via strategies that strengthen coping skills for families, institutions and communities. Immediately following 9/11, Trozzi’s principal work expanded to care for the loved ones and their families of the victims of the two planes that had emanated from Boston.
She is a frequent contributor to both print and electronic media. She has appeared with Dr. Brazelton as co-host of his national television show What Every Baby Knows several times as well as several national news programs including Larry King Live, Early Show, CNN, NBC, and ABC.
Her first book, Talking With Children About Loss, was published by Putnam-Penguin and continues to be an essential reference for parents and professionals. She has authored several chapters in pediatric and academic textbooks, including research recently published in the December 2012 Journal of Palliative Medicine.
She lives in Boston and West Yarmouth and maintains a private practice dedicated to helping families face stressful life events.