Miriam DeFant '89 PhD, is the newly appointed Project Director for the Stress, Trauma, and Resilience (STAR) Program at Clinical and Support Options, Inc. Miriam is currently the director of CSO's Psychological Assessment Services, In-Home Behavioral Services, and the Center for Professional and Community Education (CPCE).
The STAR Program is funded through a multimillion dollar, multi-year SAMHSA grant for a Category III Community Treatment and Service Center. The STAR Program will be a node in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. This new trauma program will focus on the ARC (Attachment, Regulation, and Competency) Framework for treatment of youth with complex trauma. The ARC Framework is an emerging evidence-based practice model that has been successfully applied in outpatient clinics, residential treatment centers, schools, shelters, day programs, youth drop-in centers, domestic violence programs, foster care, and juvenile justice programs, and other systems of care. The STAR Program's goals include providing both specialized trauma treatment and also specialized training to systems of care throughout Western Massachusetts.