Kent State Gets $2.7 Million Grant to Study Trauma, Depression

Only days after the city of Cleveland has decided to invest seriously in trauma, Kent State University has received a $2.7 million research grant to study the treatment of trauma's effects, notably depression and anxiety.

The city of Cleveland's plan will include stationing counselors at all 21 of the city's recreation centers and training rec center staffs in toxic stress and trauma management. This is part of its new broad approach to viewing crime and violence through a public health lens.

At Kent, researchers will attempt to find more efficient treatments for depression. The grant is for five years and has been awarded by the National Institute of Mental Health. Psychology professor Karin Coifman will lead the team.  She'll collaborate with a number of faculty members at Kent, and with Dr. Richard George, Summa Health's chief of trauma medicine. George and his Summa crew will help recruit Portage county folks who have suffered traumatic injuries for an extensive study.

"Right now, it is very hard to tell who needs our help, who will have long-term problems, because they may not be able to tell us," Coifman said in a KSU press release. "We need to develop better markers of risk, and that is what this study is all about."