Vision

The TAO project seeks to work with community partners to develop and evaluate innovative interventions for trauma survivors challenged with addiction and offending behaviors in a variety of settings, as well as investigate systemic challenges to students and promote trauma-informed schools and legal environments with the aim of disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline.

We also work to provide innovative training through coursework at the University of Memphis' Counseling programs, and through providing continuing education and supervision using neurodevelopmentally informed prevention and intervention methods in settings where mental health and the law intersect. 

Mission

The TAO Project is a team of counselor educators and counselors who:

• Provide program consultation, development, and evaluation and research, training, and advocacy on topics related to the intersection of trauma, addictions, and/or offender counseling issues, student social and emotional efficacy, and trauma-informed schools and legal environments.
  
• Pursue research with a community engagement emphasis on solving real-world problems and establishing research-informed practices.
• Pursue research utilizing trauma-informed neuro-sequential (Perry, 2006) interventions for people struggling with addictive behaviors or who are involved with the law.
• Pursue partnerships with fellow scholars and counselors on projects consistent with our research interests.
• Provide training for law enforcement, military, and health professionals on continuous real-time triage assessment and de-escalation strategies when they are interfacing with people with mental illness or disabilities, which may otherwise increase risk of harm to the individual and/or to the law enforcement officer, military personnel, or health professional. The ultimate aim being safe diversion of mentally ill individuals to an appropriate mental health placement rather than jail, while ensuring the safety of the professionals involved.