Unfortunately, there are times in our lives when traumatic events happen, and when they do, there are undoubtedly many individuals in the community who are personally affected by such events.  In circumstances of a sudden death for instance, there are typically family, friends, colleagues, schoolmates, or other groups of individuals, who can suddenly find themselves immersed with a severe emotional or physical reaction to such a life-altering event.  In such cases, The Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester can be called upon to send out their STAT Team. Many people might not even realize that our local community mental health center provides such a service, yet The STAT Team is just one of the many ways in which The Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester supports the needs of the community it serves.

The team name stands for “Strategies Toward Alleviating Trauma” and consists of clinically trained staff members who willingly go out into the community to work with individuals, groups and survivors of traumatic events. Emotional aftershocks or stress reactions can appear immediately after an event occurs or may also appear hours or days later. Signs or symptoms felt by survivors may last a few days, weeks, months and occasionally longer depending on the severity of the incident. A traumatic event may cause one to experience behavior or physical changes as well as disruptions or changes in ones feelings and thoughts.

The types of support and interventions that the STAT team can provide include:

• Group support
• Confidential individual sessions which allow those involved to understand and express their thoughts and reactions
• Educational sessions which help raise awareness of stress reactions
• Ongoing assistance

The Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester is the largest outpatient provider of mental health services in the state of New Hampshire and employs over 400. For more information about The Center or the many services provided, go to our website.

Additional outpatient services for children and adults are also provided at our affiliated program, Bedford Counseling Associates.

If you or someone you know needs assistance, please call our main number (603) 668-4111 or our Mobile Crisis Response Team (800) 688-3544