Treatment and Assessment 

Center for Traumatic Stress (TACTS)

Director: Elana Newman, PhD.

Current Graduate Student Lab Members:

Summer Nelson is a 3rd year graduate student. She is the lab manager of the TACTS lab. Her research interests are primarily in the area of journalism and trauma. She is currently working on the Dart content analysis and on the TWCC project.

Brandi Liles is a 4th year graduate student working in the TACTS lab. Her primary research interests are in child trauma and parenting. She is also interested in substance abuse among parents. She is currently working on the IDEAL, Women in Recovery Project, and TWCC projects.

Stephanie Lee is a first year Clinical Psychology graduate student at The University of Tulsa who is exploring her research interests. Her clinical interests are in working with children and adolescents following traumatic life events.

Mission Statement:

The mission of the Center is to conduct research on the assessment, treatment, and prevention of trauma and its subsequent effects.  Besides research, members are involved in educating the community on issues regarding trauma and mental health.  The lab values communicate a need to combine scholarship with practice.

In addition to educating the community and conducting research that is beneficial to academics and society, the overarching mission of the lab is to foster a team of committed, educated individuals for mutual support, acceptance, and education.  The lab is committed to the education of graduate and undergraduate students in the nuances of the empirical study of psychological phenomena.  It is also committed to encouraging their participation in all levels of research from conducting a comprehensive literature review to the development of empirical questions to the presentation of empirical findings either at regional and national conferences or in peer-review journals.  It is the philosophy of this lab that by sharing the workload, working as a cohesive team, and supporting one another, we can accomplish more as a team than we can individually.

About Our Research:

Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma: The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma is an organization that focuses on a number of different issues related to journalism and psychology. They are concerned with adverse reactions in journalist's who cover traumatic events, in helping journalists interview victims in a sensitive way, and in discovering ways that traumatic news may affect the public. Dr. Newman is the research director for the center and her lab has conducted several projects related to these three main research questions.

The most recent Dart project is a content analysis of all of the literature in the field of journalism and trauma. This project was conducted with the hopes of identifying growth and development of the field, as well as identifying notable gaps in the literature. The project will soon result in a searchable database on the Dart website (www.dartcenter.org).

Tulsa Women and Children's Center Project
This Titan project will examine psychological and social issues in a sample of women in an intensive inpatient treatment for substance abuse. In particular, we will examine parenting skills, mental health, and readiness to change of women in intensive treatment for substance abuse.  This is a collaborative project involving multiple students each focusing on a different set of questions from the same database. 

IDEAL: The Infant Development Environment and Lifestyle (IDEAL) study is a multi-site study longitudinal study of at risk children. The study will follow a group of children from birth to 7 and a half years.

Affiliated Projects:

Tulsa Institute of Trauma, Abuse and Neglect (TITAN): This is an interdisciplinary institute addressing issues of trauma, abuse, and neglect, partnering with the Tulsa community. TITAN brings together the interests, expertise, and talents of several faculty members across the University to address the complex issues related to traumatic experiences. This Institute was established in Summer of 2007.

LAB ACCOMPLISHMENTS