Marleen

MARLEEN WONG, senior associate dean and clinical professor, serves as director of field education, overseeing the field placements of all Master of Social Work students studying at five academic centers, including the Virtual Academic Center with students based all over the United States. In addition to her work in field education, Wong is an internationally recognized mental health expert. Called one of the "pre-eminent experts in school crisis and recovery" by the White House and the "architect of school-safety programs" by the Wall Street Journal, Wong has developed mental health recovery programs, crisis and disaster training for school districts and law enforcement in the United States, Canada, Israel and Asia. Frequently consulted by the U.S. Department of Education to assist schools impacted by violence, shootings, terrorism and natural disasters, she has lent her expertise to the recovery from a multitude of major crises, including terrorist attacks in New York and Oklahoma cities, school shootings in Columbine and Newtown, 1992 civil unrest in Los Angeles, sniper shootings in Washington, D.C., and environmental disaster as a result of the BP oil spill. She has traveled across the world to speak about school mental health and crisis intervention issues in schools located in the United States, Europe, Asia and Cuba. She has also advised teachers unions and school and government officials on the effects of psychological trauma on schoolchildren and adults after devastating earthquakes in Japan, Taiwan and China. Formerly director of mental health services, crisis intervention, and suicide prevention for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), and director of school crisis and intervention at the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress at the UCLA David Geffen Medical Center, Wong is one of the original developers of the Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools, an evidence-based program using skill-based group intervention to relieve symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and general anxiety among children traumatized by violence, bullying and trauma. She is also one of the developers of Psychological First Aid/Listen, Protect, Connect (PFA/LPC) – a school-based universal prevention intervention for educators and school staffs (non-mental health professionals) to use in supporting students after crises or disasters – that is now being implemented across the United States. She has served on the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) Board on Neuroscience and Behavioral Health, which was charged with assessing national priorities and approaches to public health and medical practice, public policy, research, education and training. She also served on the IOM Committee, which produced the publication, Preparing for the Psychological Consequences of Terrorism. After 9/11, she co-authored and edited three school safety books for London-based Jane's Information Group, known for Jane's Book of Ships, that provides critical information on military weaponry and geopolitical military security, and worked with the Educational Directorate of the U.S. Department of Defense/Pentagon to create website materials to support the children of parents deployed to the Iraq and Afghanistan. Wong is the author of the U.S. Department of Justice’s COPS in Schools curriculum on mental health intervention and crisis recovery. Her awards include the first Los Angeles County Mental Health Commission's Personal Legacy Award for national and international work on behalf of children's mental health and a Caregiver's Program Award from Johnson & Johnson and the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Human Development. She has also received a Woman of Distinction Award from the Los Angeles City Council and the International Soroptomists, and in 2007, accepted a Special Service Award from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the Interagency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect. In 2013, she received the George D. Nickel Award for Outstanding Professional Services by a Social Worker from the California Social Welfare Archives. Wong currently serves as co-principal investigator of the Building Capacity in Military-Connected Schools project, a $7.6 million effort funded by the Department of Defense Education Activity and a partnership between the USC School of Social Work and eight public school districts to create a more welcoming and supportive school environment for children from military families. She also serves as director and principal investigator for the USC/LAUSD/RAND/UCLA Trauma Services Adaptation Center for Resilience, Hope and Wellness in Schools, a community-based research partnership and member of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. In 2011, she was appointed to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Advisory Council. She previously served on the American Psychological Association's Presidential Task Force on Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Trauma in Children and Adolescents. Over the past 20 years, Wong has been a frequent participant and speaker at the White House and national town hall meetings during the administrations of presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, including special invitations to participate in two recent White House meetings on preparing schools for emergencies after the Newtown tragedy and reducing gun violence with remarks from Vice President Joe Biden. She provided invited testimony at Gov. Dannel Malloy’s Sandy Hook Advisory Commission and consulted directly with the U.S. secretary of education to reduce violence in schools. She has also served on the expert panel of the U.S. attorney general’s Defending Childhood Initiative, as well as the U.S. surgeon general’s work group to eliminate the stigma of mental health care. Wong also has been identified as a subject matter expert in the area of at-risk populations by the Disaster Mental Health Subcommittee of the National Biodefense Science Board.