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News: Cornerstone Service and Research Summer 2008 CPHC provides psychological first aid to traumatized victims of the great earthquake in China With the second printing, 35,000 copies of CPHC's guided activity workbook for children traumatized by the May earthquake have been made available in Mandarin. Griff Samples of Mercy Corps expects the third printing to at least double that amount for distribution. Mercy Corps reported to CPHC that almost 600 volunteers have received training in China to work with children using CPHC’s specialized Guided Activity Workbook as of July 30, 2008. With the conservative estimate that each trained participant works with 30 children, at least 17,760 children will benefit immediately from training in this Cornerstone-derivative method provided to volunteers and professionals. We expect this number will increase as training is shared, more trainees are identified and distribution of “My Sichuan Earthquake Story” continues to expand. SUMMARY OF TRAINING IN CORNERSTONE DERIVATIVE METHOD FOR VOLUNTEERS AND PROFESSIONALS IN CHINA 
Two agencies entered into a remarkable collaboration with The Children’s Psychological Health Center to translate and distribute tens of thousands of copies of a psychoanalytically informed guided activity workbook for traumatized children who survived the May 12th earthquake and aftermath events in China. China American Psychoanalytic Alliance (www,capachina.org) guided by CAPA President, Elise Snyder, MD, working with our medical director, Gilbert Kliman, MD, galvanized translators and artists to provide a culturally vetted adaptation of an earlier version of “My Earthquake Story” which Dr. Kliman greatly expanded and modified to fit the special needs and issues identified. Mercy Corps (www.mercycorps.org) under the guidance of Griffen Samples, Senior Technical Advisor, Comfort for Kids entered into an agreement with CPHC to spearhead distribution. A Coincidence Leads to Collaboration On May 3, 2008 Gilbert Kliman M.D. had the honor of addressing the first joint meeting of The American College of Psychoanalysts and The American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Psychodynamic Psychiatry, in Washington D.C. Elise Snyder MD, President of the ACP heard Dr. Kliman present a Unifying New Theory of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, which drew on his experience with thousands of traumatized children over a 55 year period of his child psychiatric practice, individual trauma and mass psychological first aid research. Dr. Snyder noted the very high enthusiasm of the audience, and invited Dr. Kliman to participate in her activities with the China America Psychoanalytic Alliance (CAPA). CAPA is a non-profit organization of about 100 American psychoanalysts and psychotherapists dedicated to providing psychoanalyses, psychotherapies, supervision and training to mental health professionals in the Peoples' Republic of China. Fast Track Process Provides Disaster Relief Nine days later when the Sichuan earthquake struck, Gilbert Kliman responded to a request by Elise Snyder for help in this enormous disaster. He began preparing a mental health resource for translation into Mandarin by CAPA. He formed it as a workbook using his China-congenial emphasis on social networks to help children heal, and his Columbia University Department of Child Psychiatry creation of a manualized workbook for traumatized children entering foster homes. He also used his San Francisco earthquake experience and his prior collaboration with Mercy Corps in storm disasters. Dr. Snyder was meanwhile working on training large numbers of mental health workers to respond to the disaster. Dr. Kliman then suggested the three organizations -- The Children's Psychological Health Center, Inc., China America Psychoanalytic Alliance, and Mercy Corps all offer to collaborate with the People's Republic Government and help all children possible with a practical form of psychological first aid. Griffen Samples of Mercy Corps had already successfully led a response to disastrously huge storms, collaborating with Dr. Kliman and the Children's Psychological Health Center in 2005 and 2006. The Sichuan Earthquake response thus took on a previously successful form, which had been tested by Tulane’s Dept. of Psychiatry. The workbook needed extensive revision for the cultural, linguistic and disaster circumstances. |  |
The participants labored and communicated on the internet with little sleep until May 30th, through over twelve drafts, when a mutually accepted version was created. Speed of creation, translation and distribution was important because this resource was for rapid first aid, when many psychological wounds could still be kept from becoming long term disorder. It was hoped that Chinese love and thoughtfulness for children, and emphasis on the healing power of social networks would make this supportive and reflective network activity particularly valuable for Sichuan children in their historically immense time of psychological need. The English version of the book is posted on our website as “MY SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE WORKBOOK” Mercy Corps Helps Ensure Support for CPHC’s Guided Activity Workbook in China Mercy Corps was instrumental in obtaining a foreword for the Mandarin edition written by Zhang Kan, Dean of the Research Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Counselor of the Chinese Psychology Association. This foreword states, in part: “The Sichuan Earthquake in China in May 12, 2008 has caused great loss to the affiliated areas, and has brought with it tremendous trauma to the local residents physically, materially and psychologically… Now the large scale of life-saving has entered its closure, and this campaign against earthquake and alleviating its aftermath has entered a new stage of reconstruction after the catastrophe. It doesn't take long for people to realize that the work of reconstruction bears an even harder task and still sees a long way ahead. The experience gained from the past effort against earthquake has shown that of all the reconstruction works, psychological reconstruction is the most difficult, and in particular, psychological reconstruction among the children. This is because children are still in the process of psychological development and are more vulnerable to psychological traumas. Meanwhile, we are lacking a certain coping mechanism. It is shown from psychological researches that it is a great difficulty to scientifically and effectively communicate with affected children. The book is particularly aimed at the psychological reconstruction among the children, and has seen its efficacy in helping the psychological reconstruction of people after earthquakes in the U.S. It is my belief that the publication and use of this book can provide a scientific and convenient tool for the Chinese psychological experts, teachers and parents to help the children rebuild their psychology. This is more than a blessing to us.“ 6/6/2008 from Beijing
CAMBRIDGE PILOT PROJECT:
CORNERSTONE IN-CLASSROOM TREATMENT SERVICE ESTABLISHED BY ALEXANDRA HARRISON, MD The Cambridge pilot project took off early this year and is coming along in an innovative way. Alexandra Harrison, M.D., Assistant Clinical Professor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, is consultant to a private nonprofit preschool. After two children from the school were referred to her for evaluation, she decided to follow the Cornerstone design of treating them with play therapy sessions in the classroom and narrating their experiences before and after the play sessions with the teacher in the presence of the child. She has found that these two interventions, in addition to direct assistance in peer interactions, make it possible for the children to engage in the pool of cultural knowledge held by their classmates. The classroom teachers have become Dr. Harrison’s close collaborators. The head teacher proved to be a talented and perceptive co-therapist. Dr. Harrison has also worked with the parents of the children to support their individual playtimes, with the goal of developing reciprocal pretend play. Both of these interventions have been very useful to the children in their developmental progress. Alicia Mallo, MD, Cornerstone Argentina Director’s visit to the school in June was a wonderful opportunity. Not only did she have a chance to tour the school and talk at length with the director, but she and Ms. Demko began discussions about a possible teacher exchange between the Cambridge school and the Buenos Aires school. Ms. Demko, who holds a degree in special education, already has established teacher exchanges with schools in China. Dr. Harrison is eager to continue her work at the school in the Fall. CPHC is very excited about this project’s potential to further research about several unusual features of the Cornerstone Method associated with our results. The first is that the therapy takes place in the school, within the classroom group. The second is that the child’s parents, teacher, and therapist are in contact about the child multiple times a week. The third, and perhaps the most remarkable, is that the therapist (and teachers) reflect on the child’s relational experience, out loud in front of the child, both to the child and to all these important people in the child’s life many, many times a day. |  |
CPHC has established a special fund for the Cambridge Cornerstone Pilot Project, directed by Assistant Clinical Professor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Alexandra Harrison, MD, to support scholarships and other associated costs. ONGOING CONSULTATION, TRAINING AND SUPERVISION– CORNERSTONE SERVICES AT FAMILY SERVICES IN SEATTLE Linda Hirshfeld, PhD (Senior Cornerstone therapist and Certified Cornerstone Trainer) visited Family Services in Seattle July 21st to augment previous on site and remote supervision and training in delivery of Cornerstone treatment. She worked with Family Services therapist Judy Burr-Chellin who provided an overview of program start-up and detail about the unique circumstances of the population she's working with. Dr. Hirshfeld video taped 3 treatment sessions on this visit. Dr. Hirshfeld was able to provide some markers about the set-up of the sessions, (briefing and de-briefing) as well as offer welcome advice regarding some challenges presented by classroom dynamics. As is typical of ongoing training support, they viewed taped sessions together and discussed clinical considerations of the work. Dr. Hirshfeld was pleased with how Judy then applied insights gained from their discussion of technical aspects of the method. Dr. Hirshfeld will visit Family Services for another follow-up consultation August 25th. Gilbert Kliman, MD and Elissa Burian, MA will perform onsite supervision and training in September. | Cornerstone in Seattle
Key staff members of Family Services of King County helped to create a successful orientation for parents of child patients newly afforded the opportunity to receive Cornerstone treatment or Personal Life History Book therapy. Gilbert Kliman, MD met with parents in two separate 90-minute sessions to present Cornerstone treatment options and have a dialogue. Parents learned how the two methods help children with emotional and cognitive disturbances. Getting their personal concerns addressed by the CPHC Medical Director was helpful to orient parents of children additionally traumatized by homelessness. Parents learned how reduction of symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder is a common benefit with both methods. |
Phyllis Fuller, long time member of the CPHC Board of Directors, accompanied Dr. Kliman to the Parent Orientation. She was able to share first hand knowledge of the effectiveness of Cornerstone in-classroom treatment, based on personal experience with her own two daughters who successfully graduated from Cornerstone several years ago with significant cognitive and mental health gains.
A NEW WAY TO HELP HOMELESS AND TRAUMATIZED CHILDREN Family Services − Seattle: CPHC Trains Fourteen Teachers and Therapists Gilbert Kliman, MD, CPHC's Medical Director reported that he really enjoyed a marvelous experience applying the Cornerstone method to children in a shelter classroom last December demonstrating the techniques to 7 therapists and 7 teachers. The Seattle staff is very excited about treating homeless preschoolers at Family Services of King County's preschool where there are 30 homeless and highly traumatized preschoolers at any one moment. They plan to serve 90 homeless preschoolers a year using both the Cornerstone Method of Reflective Network Therapy and a shorter derivative, The Personal Life History Book Method. (Both methods are maualized.) Family Services of King County staff completed their 4-day initial intensive training in the Cornerstone Method last December. Ongoing training and supervision, in addition to periodic site visits by senior CPHC staff, will rely heavily on frequent video conferencing, supported by periodic onsite conferences and seminars over a 2-year period. During initial training, Dr. Kliman reported that the children's teachers' jaws dropped when they saw how quickly their three year old pupils opened up and began to talk meaningfully and movingly about their traumas, and showing behavioral improvements and cognitive leaps during their very first Cornerstone sessions. Videotapes of the demonstration treatment sessions are show the Seattle homeless kids are wonderfully responsive to the Cornerstone Method of in-classroom therapy. This was the first time that senior CPHC staff had the opportunity to demonstrate Cornerstone techniques to a host site’s new teacher-therapist teams by practicing the method with child clients already being served at the host site. The children responded so well that results were recognized and understood immediately by teachers and mental health professionals alike. The impact of seeing their children helped was strong. Family Services administrators, teachers and therapists are highly enthusiastic.
The collaboration between our two agencies promises to bear more fruit. We expect this service site to provide a successful collaborative model. Based on early phases of the Seattle experience, we already plan to encourage potential new sites to receive demonstrations of The Cornerstone Method with their own child patient population.
Catherine Henderson, PhD, a child analyst and Chairperson of the Seattle Psychoanalytic Institute and Society recently identified two new candidates for training as Cornerstone Therapists to accommodate more children with Cornerstone treatment at Family Services facilities. Dr, Henderson has consulted with Family Services of King County on their child psychotherapy cases, taught infant observation and done staff training in identifying mother-infant dyads at risk and teaching dyadic intervention strategies. She will continue to be involved in supporting the collaborative treatment at the existing site. In 2009 Family Services will move to a new and larger facility. At that time, additional Cornerstone classrooms will be added. In addition to continuing the service for homeless preschoolers, Family Services will add Cornerstone classes to treat seriously developmentally and emotionally disturbed children in King County regardless of family circumstances or income.
CORNERSTONE ARGENTINA
 Since 2005, Alicia Asman Mallo, MD, child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, has served as the Director of Cornerstone Argentina in Buenos Aires. Her work is supported by a Cornerstone Service and Research Fellowship from The International Psychoanalytic Association and funding from The Children’s Psychological Health Center. Currently ten children are being treated five days a week at this service site, in two classes. Positive mental health gains (evidenced by CGAS testing and Childhood Autism Rating Scales) have been documented for most of the children treated by Dr. Mallo and her team. Many of the children served at Cornerstone Argentina are severely autistic and as a consequence have mental retardation. These children are sometimes so developmentally delayed or regressed that they cannot be IQ tested. We are very encouraged by the results so far. Dr. Mallo has documented significant positive test results, including a rare achievement. There has been an IQ rise for a very severely retarded child. In-classroom treatment sessions are captured on video with parental permission (as is true for other Cornerstone service sites). These videos become an important part of CPHC’s video archives for training and independent scientific study. Dr. Mallo’s video of her 2-year follow up with a child patient who has apparently almost completely recovered from Autism and who is transitioning into regular school will be presented and discussed at a major Psychoanalytic Conference in Santiago,Chile at the FePAL Congress (Federación Psicoanalítica de América Latina), September 24, 2008. Dr. Mallo is often invited to speak about the Cornerstone Method. She was a presenter at two major events in 2007: the Annual Symposium of the Buenos Aires Psychoanalytical Association and the Flappia psychotherapy conference in Uruguay. See the Research /Results section of this websitefor detail about cognitive and mental health improvements. ANN MARTIN CORNERSTONE Cornerstone therapist Linda Hirshfeld, PhD, a very talented and experienced Cornerstone therapist, conducts in-classroom treatment sessions at this service site. An early childhood education specialist is part of the reflective network for the children learning and being treated in a play group setting. Dr. Hirshfeld's practice is an important addition to the program offerings at the prestigious Ann Martin Center in Piedmont, California. The Ann Martin Center is known for its emphasis on both emotional and educational support. Dr. Hirshfeld continues to document consistently strong results for both cognitive and clinical improvements among the children she treats, including IQ rises for children treated at Ann Martin Cornerstone. She is often tapped by Dr. Kliman to explain the Cornerstone method to others. Dr. Hirshfeld served as co-presenter with Gilbert Kliman at the four-day training intensive conducted last year for teachers and therapists at Family Services in Seattle and continues to help conduct ongoing training at the newer Cornerstone service site. Video of Dr. Hirshfeld's in-classroom treatment sessions at Ann Martin Cornerstone was a particularly valuable training tool to help explain the treatment work going on in the classroom. Ann Martin Cornerstone recently moved into a more spacious classroom, right across the street from the Ann Martin Center. The larger venue helps accommodate frequent visitors who wish to learn more about the method. Ann Martin Cornerstone has become a valuable demonstration laboratory for mental health professionals who visit to see The Cornerstone Method of Reflective Network Therapy in action. In her experience using Reflective Network Therapy, Dr. Hirshfeld treated two child patients with selective mutism and serious developmental delays who recovered from their selective mutism very quickly during Reflective Network Therapy sessions. One of these children recovered during the debriefing following a single therapy session. This story is captured on a video of a conversation between Dr. Hirshfeld and Dr. Kliman recorded in 2007. In this DVD, "A Cornerstone Conversation" they discuss the Cornerstone Method, how it is carried out and which distinctive features of the method seem to help children most. (Copies of the video A Cornerstone Conversation are available at no cost from CPHC and do not require a Confidentiality Agreement.) Special Honor for CPHC Medical Director at an Historic Meeting May 3, 2008, Washington DC 
The first joint scientific meeting of the American College of Psychoanalysts and the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Psychodynamic Psychiatry was held at the JW Marriot in Washington DC. The first speaker selected to address this historic meeting was our own agency's Medical Director, Gilbert Kliman, MD. Kliman's lecture to over 200 colleagues was entitled "A UNIFYING THEORY OF PTSD – VIDEOTAPED PHENOMENOLOGIC AND INTERVENTION EVIDENCE." The enthusiastic response of Dr. Kliman's peers regarding the clinical and theoretical value of his original insights was very gratifying to the Children’s Psychological Health Center. We are particularly pleased because we have worked so hard to support the services to children and accumulate the information about trauma on which he based his talk. Below is a sample of the comments we received. Discussant Clarice Kestenbaum, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of hysicians and Surgeons, Department of Child Psychiatry, a highly published child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst with several decades practice and teaching experience: “This is a remarkable, original, important as well as immense body of work on psychological trauma. In preparing to lead this discussion, I had the privilege and advantage of reading Kliman’s theory in essay form, and read it over three times. I did so because of its extraordinary exercise Kliman conducted in comprising a field of great complexity, ranging through evolutionary, neuroscience, and even chaos theory, as well as his review of a huge relevant psychological and psychoanalytic literature. The essay contains an enormous amount of thinking which time did not permit Dr. Kliman to cover today, such as his very important original research observations on memory changes with trauma and the hundreds of other scientific projects which he has considered and summarized. I especially appreciated the exquisite detail in his video interviews, further examples of which I had the privilege of seeing in greater fullness than he could present today. He further showed you a very carefully conducted treatment work based on his theory. His emphasis on the detailed use of reflective networks in the Cornerstone method and narrative therapy, as in his guided activity workbooks, in overcoming behavioral traumatic memory is very important. I have known his work in such narrative therapies since he sent me his 9/11 workbook, “My Personal Story about the Attack on America”. There is so much of value in this essay that I hope he will now turn it into a book.” David Mintz, MD: “Learning about Kliman’s truly profound New Theory of PTSD, I felt a sudden change in myself and my thinking about psychiatry. It was a Copernican moment, comparable to hearing Copernicus say the earth revolves around the sun rather than conversely. Kliman’s view that this set of danger reactions is evolutionarily produced and has value to the gene pool turned my thinking around with a flash of clinically relevant insight. Here the species is benefiting from the burdens of an individual. It makes me think of applications to other disorders, and wonder whether he is considering other disorders in an evolutionary light as well.” Course: Psychological Trauma in Childhood – Gilbert Kliman, MD More than a dozen advanced child psychotherapy students attended this course at the Child Development Program of the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis. They were Doctors of Psychology, Doctoral students, Marriage and Family Therapists and Social Workers. Attendees gave “outstanding” reviews of the course on childhood trauma taught by our Medical Director, Gilbert Kliman, MD at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis in San Francisco on March 12 and March 19, 2008. Much of the material presented is available to professionally qualified viewers of this site. Discussion was based on videotaped diagnostic interviews of highly traumatized children and videotaped treatment archives. The latter were from The Cornerstone Method of Reflected Network Therapy. Videos from CPHC archives illustrated the phenomenon of iconic memory, where traumatized children symbolically re-enact devastating trauma. A DVD of treatment sessions demonstrated not only well understood cognitive and emotional problems associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, but also demonstrated Cornerstone techniques which reduce PTSD symptoms. Materials used in this course included a paper recently selected for presentation by Dr. Kliman in Washington DC on May 3, 2008 at the 39th annual meeting of The American College of Psychoanalysts. This will be the first joint meeting of two psychoanalytic societies: The American College of Psychoanalysts and The American Association for Medical Psychoanalysts. Interested mental health professionals may obtain a CD containing a draft of this study, “Toward a Unifying New Theory of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder” by sending an email request from the Contacts page of our website. DVDs used in this course will be made available to qualified professionals who make request by submitting a binding Confidentiality Agreement. The agreement can be downloaded by clicking on this link: To view and print the Confidentiality Agreement now, click here. Please specify the course materials by name: DVDs: Iconic Memory and Treatment by The Cornerstone Method. The signed confidentiality agreement may either be faxed to 415 749-2802 or mailed to The Children’s Psychological Health Center. News from Oklahoma Another Long Term Ermergence from Apparently Deep Autism: Sustained IQ Rise and Achievement Reported in Long-Term Follow Up Fran Morris, M.A., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, has been in touch with Dr. Kliman for many years. Morris conducted a therapeutic preschool equivalent to a Cornerstone Reflective Network Therapy service in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma for several years. Morris recently contacted Dr. Kliman with follow-up notes on a child patient of hers who presented with severe autistic regression and whose initial WISC-R IQ test result was 47. The child began in-classroom treatment in 1978 at age 4 with a very dim prognosis. His treatment was an in-classroom combination of psychotherapy and education. His full scale IQ rose to 91. His most recent full scale IQ was documented as 125, quite respectably above average! Now nearly 30, his prospects have changed dramatically. Morris reports that this young man completed a University education, receiving his B.A. and that he is currently in graduate school earning an M.A. The findings she reports verify that in-classroom reflective network psychotherapy led to a marked and sustained rise of Wechsler Full Scale IQ, and a great deal of clinical improvement. Both IQ and clinical status continued to increase for many years. Though not a full cure, this case resembles a 37 year follow-up of a fully cured patient similarly treated and reported by Kliman. This was of a severely autistic and seemingly retarded three year old. Miriam Siegel, Ph.D found that the child’s IQ was too low for testing. But over several years of in-classroom psychotherapy her IQ rose to a full scale WPPSI score of 80. Ultimately she had no symptoms of autism and her full scale IQ when re-tested at age eight was 120, then at age twelve was 149. (Further details and her autobiography are in Psychotherapy in the Preschool Classroom, Kliman, G. 2007) News from New Orleans Help for Children with Post Traumatic Stress Disorders
Tulane Department of Medicine Researchers led by Jan Johnson, MD studied a derivative of The Cornerstone Method, called “The Personal Life History Book Method,” which has resulted in a series of reflective network therapy applications for children who survive large scale disasters. Applied to children who were displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, this derivative of Cornerstone is producing highly significant reductions of the children’s posttraumatic stress disorder scores. Together with Mercy Corps, The Children’s Psychological Health Center produced a guided activity workbook for New Orleans children, called “My Personal Story About Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.” Over 12,000 copies were used by school children and their families.The Tulane study is published on our website. Kliman Quoted Regarding Impacts of Trauma (ABC News) Since the assassination of President Kennedy, Kliman has written extensively regarding potentially long lasting numbing effects of traumatic events, including mass disasters. He is often called upon by public media (e.g., Barbara Walters Show, 20/20, Channel 2 News, New York Times Magazine) to explain the significance of children’s reactions. Here is a section from his latest book regarding trauma (see news item below) which he drew upon when invited for public media discussion of the Virginia Tech incident on April 20th, 2007. Dr. Kliman was widely quoted regarding the Virginia Tech Massacre on (US) ABC News and (more surprisingly) in the English Language Al Jazeera TV from Jakarta, Indonesia. Traumatized individuals have impoverished ability to think about the future and at the same time, have a tendency to translate experience into malignant omens and prophecies that enter dreams and daily mental life. They experience numbing of interpersonal relationships. Often children traumatized by specific events will exhibit iconic memories of their trauma by repeating behaviors that signify or symbolize that trauma. That is, they may remember their trauma through behavioral enactments… Trauma is a biological as well as a psychological insult. Sustained release of cortisol and long lasting levels of adrenalin produced by response to trauma kill brain cells. Three areas of the brain that produce emotion are affected (limbic, thalamic and prefrontal) as shown by MRI and psychometric data. There is evidence that there is a hereditary component to vulnerability to post traumatic stress syndrome; studies show that 25% of Vietnam veterans and 33% of Iraq veterans develop PTSD. So we might expect that a certain percentage of any population (such as at Virginia Tech) might be more predisposed to the worst effects of traumatizing events. In all cases, the therapeutic objective is … healthy adaptive expression, conversion of a mental state that has been, to some degree, biologically numbed by trauma. (Psychotherapy in the Preschool Classroom, Kliman, G. 2008) Following the horrific events at Virginia Tech, Dr. Kliman was quoted by Dan Childs of the ABC News Medical Unit as follows. Impacts of shootings can last long after shots are silenced. Mental health experts suggest that in traumatic events such as these, even those who escape physically unscathed may have long-lasting psychological wounds. "It's an extremely disorganizing and traumatizing experience," said Dr. Gilbert Kliman of the Children’s Psychological Health Center in San Francisco, California. CPHC Treatment Video Archives Developed Further for Training and Scientific Study Supported by a grant from the Windholz Memorial Fund, Elissa Burian, an experienced Cornerstone supervisor, has begun annotating videotapes of Cornerstone treatments from our agency’s extensive video archives. Detailed annotation will assist independent researchers and make the videos much more practical for training purposes by minimizing or eliminating the need for personal psychoanalytic explication by individual Cornerstone therapist supervisors. News Items: 2007 New Book Offers New Hope Psychotherapy In the Preschool Classroom: The Cornerstone Method of Reflective Network Therapy © 2008 BY GILBERT KLIMAN, MD Parents of severely disturbed preschoolers will be encouraged by this new book’s emphasis on valuing their input and feedback and providing regular guidance and support to families. It is good news that this method is also cost effective for early childhood intervention within public school systems. Dr. Kliman's new book offers practical hope to families and communities struggling to meet the special needs of children who have lost or damaged capacity to care about and learn from others. A dynamic psychological and psychosocial network method, Reflective Network Therapy enables most emotionally disturbed or cognitively impaired children to become healthier and receptive to learning. This method helps developmentally challenged young children develop empathy, relate to family and peers, and grow intellectually. Twice-tested child patients regularly show statistically highly significant IQ gains which are sustained over time. Children become emotionally healthier and smarter, gaining new interpersonal and cognitive skills. Surprisingly positive outcomes have been measured in varied psychosocial contexts: inclusive public special education classes, day care centers, Head Start programs, public and private therapeutic preschools. It is good news that this method is also cost effective for early childhood intervention within public school systems. Reflective Network Therapy appears to be a major advance in the effort to meet the emotional and developmental special needs of young children. The book includes a replication Manual for the benefit of therapists, teachers, parents and researchers. The author strikes a balance between making complex material accessible to the general reader and keeping to the rigors of scientific presentation. Real life classroom narratives and discussion of more formal case studies enhance the reader’s understanding and help personalize theoretical explication. New research, some being planned in collaboration with Harvard Medical School, may ultimately help explain why this method works. The method is evidence-based and time-tested by clinical, comparative, and controlled psychometric studies. The author describes his own experience and that of many colleagues with 1000 children treated by over 20 teams of using the Cornerstone method of Reflective Network Therapy. Case studies are enriched with the author’s psychoanalytic commentary which illuminates scientific studies and findings and points out aspects of the method which will benefit from future multi-site studies. Alicia Mallo, MD – Cornerstone Argentina Update A CPHC certification course for new therapists and teachers training in the Cornerstone Method of Reflective Network Therapy is being planned with curriculum oversight by Gilbert Kliman, MD. In South America, this will occur under the leadership of Alicia Mallo, MD. Dr. Mallo recently reported IQ progress for children treated at Cornerstone Argentina who could be tested. She noted that she is now receiving referrals of children who are or who become testable by IQ. A pledge has been received of an additional gift to CPHC for the purpose of continued testing to measure progress at this service site. It will be used for independent diagnosis, Childhood Autism Rating Scale and CGAS rating and an additional series of the same measures at one year follow ups. MENTAL HEALTH GAINS - CORNERSTONE ARGENTINA CHILD PATIENTS 
Windholz Foundation Grant CPHC was awarded a Windholz Foundation grant from the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute and Society of $11,300 (July 2007). The award will be used to purchase video conferencing equipment to further enhance ongoing supervision of the Ann Martin Center Cornerstone service site, and to support the services of an experienced Cornerstone supervisor (Elissa Burian, MA) who will begin annotating some of our treatment tapes from our archives. A major goal is to begin indexing and deepening the training value of our video archives. Detailed annotation will assist independent researchers as well as potential Reflective Network Therapy practitioners. CPHC received $75,983 in private donations targeted for the continued support of the Ann Martin project and Cornerstone Argentina (July 2007).Children’s Psychological Health Center Board Members have given contributions to the Harvard Medical School Cornerstone Project totaling $35,250. The International Psychoanalytic Association’s Cornerstone Service and Research Fellowship recently received $27,850 from CPHC. The Ann Martin Center in Piedmont, California, received a CPHC $13,250 grant installment for its Cornerstone Service. New Cornerstone Service Possibility in Philadelphia William M. Singletary, MD, President, Mahler Psychiatric Research Foundation writes, "The Cornerstone Program is an innovative program, which we think offers much hope to all of those concerned with autistic spectrum disorder. The Cornerstone Preschool Method has been shown to reliably produce in-classroom and at-home behavioral improvements and large IQ gains at relatively low cost. A number of groups are collaborating to establish such a program in Philadelphia.” New Projects and Funding
Continued development of heightened training tools for training, supervision, replication and research study of Reflective Network Therapy’s value for existing and new child patients is the primary goal of this project. Funds are requested for basic video-conferencing regarding child patients Ann Martin Center, for equipment and supplies to continue video documentation of in-classroom treatments at this service site, and for indexing of 150 hours of Ann Martin Cornerstone DVD archives of treatment selections for collation into training videos by Elissa Burian, MA, a co-founder of the method in collaboration with Gilbert Kliman, MD, whose services are donated. Requested funds will also cover the costs of an independent videographer’s services to attach indexed treatment notes to training videos. Update: The Windholz Foundation donated $11,300 for this effort.
Verbatim transcription and scientific notation of 100 existing archived video records of actual treatment sessions selected for their value regarding children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Attention Deficit Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Transcripts will be a contribution to the best didactic use and application range of existing DVD’s as an educational and training tool. It makes the details of this applied analytic treatment method more accessible (DVD menu findable) for further objective study of non-verbal aspects of psychotherapy and education. Psychoanalytically informed annotation of transcripts will augment written case reports and studies of Reflective Network Therapy for preschoolers and enhance the cost-effectiveness of video archives as a foundation for training new therapists. Such transcripts will be an important new tool to promote independent verification of clinical, cognitive and linguistic results and to support ongoing and future research. Study of the phenomena of statistically significant psychometric improvements will be facilitated. For example, videotapes of children with IQ and CGAS gains could be studied by a Q-Sort method to compare with non-responders or children treated by other methods. Transcripts will assist Reflective Network Therapy supervisors in the training of therapists, teachers and parents for future independent trials of the method in new sites for comparison studies. The Harvard Medical School project we plan is one which would immediately benefit from transcripts.
Continued support for current Cornerstone service sites: The Ann Martin Center in Piedmont, California and Cornerstone Argentina in Buenos Aires. Please send your tax deductible donations (payable to CPHC) to he Children’s Psychological Health Center, 2105 Divisadero Street, San Francisco, CA 94115
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