Advisory Board

• Theresa Goode M.Ed.
• Carlita Elias Psy.D.
• Kelly Sanchez
• Janeri Hernandez
• David Hopkins
• Susan Sarmiento
• Al Killen-Harvey, LCSW
• Mariah Rooney M.S.W., LICSW
• Isa Velez, Ph.D.
• Teresa Brewington M.B.A., M.Ed.
• Teresa Grame, LCSW, ATR-BC, RPT-S
• Asima Zehgeer, M.D.
• Abdul-Rahmaan Muhammad, M.S.W.
• Richard Zhang, M.D.
• Alexander Luo, M.D.

Family Advisory Board

• GOODWorks, Inc.
• University of Hartford
• Optimum

Young Adult Advisory Board

• Urban League of Greater Hartford
• The Governor's Prevention Partnership
• The Harvey Institute
• Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, and PTTC: State Project Manager-OH
• UCLA-Duke University National Center for Child Traumatic Stress
• My People Clinical Services

New Zenith Theatre

New Zenith is a film and theatre company committed to works for young and family audiences. Founded in 1998, our mission is to teach, inspire, and celebrate important stories about young characters; especially those kids facing challenges, quests, and impossible odds. While our original work focused mostly on live theatre experiences, since 2010 the New Zenith company of Emmy-winning filmmakers has produced television segments, documentaries, educational shorts, and docu-drama style films.

New Zenith has successfully partnered with mental health professionals, foster/adoptive care communities, social service organizations, and educational institutions. Each project is unique, but our “witnessing” approach consistently relies on 7 keys: empathy, immersion, community-building, research, journaling, trust, and bravery. The specific creative approach with CTDTD is shaped by Dr. Belarie Zatzman’s methods of using drama as a form of “witnessing.” Inspired by her model, our actors and storytellers lean on improvisational and devised theatre methods to create a personal narrative as it relates to the testimony and experiences of others. Our material is grounded in memories, lived experiences, and images that retell or re-perform the lives of others.

Since 2016, New Zenith's partnership with CTDTD and the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) has led to “Critical Moments,” a collection of over 40 immersive therapy-focused films and webinars to educate the therapist community. Our ensemble of actors, therapists, filmmakers, and digital storytellers follow a creative sequence: research; interviews; improvisation; journaling; scripting; storyboarding; and production. In 2020, we introduced the “Digital Diaries:Rx” series, which features characters known as The Trauma Avengers. Available on an exclusive website, traumaavengers.com viewers can witness films of six "fictional" young people in trauma therapy who use creative journaling as a means to advance treatment and dialogue with their therapists.