Root Collaborates with UCONN to Study Children’s Neural Threat Reactivity

July 31, 2023

The Root Center is collaborating with UCONN Health Center’s 
Dr. Margaret Briggs-Gowan
and Dr. Damion Grasso to study family stressors and their relationship to child neural threat reactivity to better understand children’s clinical vulnerability to psychiatric impairment in their lifetime. In this study, there is a strong focus on negative threat reactivity related to family violence from birth up to the assessment date.


Participants are studied over the course of a year; with a baseline assessment and a 1 year follow up. Children participate in a range of evidence-based activities to measure their reactivity as well as any symptoms they may have due to exposure; some activities include a puppet interview, a computer task that involves an EEG screening, and a developmental stage assessment. Mothers participate in an interview where an inventory of stressors is collected, also known as the Family Stress Inventory (FSI). Items include aspects of home life, partner conflict, and parenting style in response to child’s misbehavior.

Recent Posts

May 12, 2025
Our Community Forum was a success! Burnout: More than Just Stress, was a wonderful, insightful, and at times even funny conversation about occupational and personal burnout, shifting legislature, personal coping strategies, systemic changes, the effect of burnout in children, and so much more! The Root Center is proud to offer free events like this as part of our Advanced Recovery Institute (ARI). The ARI is committed to research and training to elevate clinical care. It is our hope that by organizing these forums that we will help expand our understanding and awareness of topics that impact our communities. Special thanks to all of our panelists for your insight and expertise: Samantha Alzate LCSW , - Owner of Mindful Transformations Brent Heineman, MD/MPH - Psychiatry Intern at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine Christian Damiana - Public Policy Manager at Mental Health Connecticut, Inc. Dr. Cassandra Holinka, PsyD - Clinical Psychologist & Assistant Professor of Psychiatry Jay Lasser, M.D - Founder of The Center for Work Stress Reduction Kristine Olson , M.D., M.S. - Chief Wellness Officer for Yale New Haven Health
March 27, 2025
Back in 2023, Root Center for Advanced Recovery's education initiative, the Advanced Recovery Institute, offered its first ever grant to fund research by Dr. Yifrah Kaminer and his team at UConn. Now in 2025, the study is finally published!
Show More