The Palmetto Pyramid Police Partnership (P4) was conceptualized and launched through a federal Preschool Development Grant awarded to DSS, facilitated through collaborations by multiple state agencies. The goal of P4 is to pilot a model of best practice by providing consistency of care through the Handle With Care notification model and Pyramid Model implementation. P4 was piloted in Richland One School District with law enforcement support by the Columbia City Police Department and Richland County Sheriff’s Department in August 2021.
NOTE: A Handle With Care referral does not take the place of a mandated reporter reporting suspected child abuse. If you suspect child abuse, call 1-888-CARE4US or 1-888-227-3487 and if there is an emergency, you need to call 911.
Law Enforcement is typically the first agency to come into contact with children when there has been a traumatic event.
(See Notification PowerPoint below.)
Notification Training: This is the training video that was sent to CPD and RCSD for their officers.
Columbia City Police Department: https://columbiapd.net
Richland County Sheriff’s Department: www.rcsd.net
A huge “THANK YOU” to Chief Holbrook and Sheriff Lott for their support and willingness to partner in the P4 initiative.
P4 is facilitated through the work of supervisors and masters of social work interns collaborating with law enforcement, local school districts, and participating school- and community-based mental health.
Let’s meet them!
Meghan Trowbridge is the Assistant Director and Training Director at the University of South Carolina’s Center for Disability Resources (SC UCEDD/LEND) and a Research Assistant Professor in the School of Medicine.
Meghan has been working in the field of disabilities for over 27 years. In her role at the South Carolina UCEDD, she focuses on projects centered on self-determination, person centered planning, and systems development. Her newest efforts center on the Palmetto Pyramid Police Project (P4) working with local law enforcement agencies, daycare centers, and schools to implement the Handle with Care initiatives. She is currently the onsite supervisor for the P4 Initiative MSW interns.
Meghan is also the Social Work Core Faculty for the SC LEND. She supervises multiple social work trainees in several organizations and teaches social work courses on disability, community development, human behavior, leadership, and supervision for the University of South Carolina, Winthrop University and Columbia College. As a result of her efforts, CDR currently collaborates with over 25 agencies serving children, youth and families living with disabilities. Committed to full inclusion for people with disabilities, Meghan has spent her professional career fostering collaborative relationships with a variety of community organizations. She is a Licensed Independent Social Worker and a Nationally Certified Brain Injury Specialist Trainer.
Email: meghan.trowbridge@uscmed.sc.edu
Rebecca Williams-Agee, MSW, MPA is the Statewide Coordinator for the P4/Handle With Care Program. Rebecca comes to the USC School of Medicine Center for Disability Resources with over 20 years of experience in the social justice field. Most recently, Rebecca worked as the Head of Training and Development in the Office of Health Equity and Inclusion at SC DHEC.
Rebecca began her career as a social worker with a small caseload of boys at the SC Department of Juvenile Justice. Her work with system-involved youth and their Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) led to her career focus on addressing systemic barriers to achieving positive social determinants of health, especially for historically unserved and marginalized communities.
Rebecca worked with and for survivors of sexual and intimate violence for over 11 years at the SC Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (SCCADVASA) and was a part of the first training cohort of ACE Master Trainers trained by Children’s Trust. Her work focused on training service providers about the importance of responding to survivors and their families in a trauma-informed way. Rebecca has developed and delivered training on a variety of topics, including: the effects of ACEs on Adolescent Development; Understanding the Effects of ACEs on Historically Marginalized Communities; and Creating Safe and Trauma-Informed Spaces for Service Provision.
Rebecca completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at Furman University and went on to complete her Master of Social Work and Master of Public Administration degrees at the University of South Carolina. Rebecca enjoys working with communities to identify and build on their strengths and is excited to collaborate with the amazing programs at CDR to further the work of Handle With Care across the State of South Carolina.
Email: rebecca.williams-agee@uscmed.sc.edu
Thomas Washington is the Administrative Assistant at the University of South Carolina’s Center for Disability Resources Palmetto Pyramid Police Partnership (P4) Handle with Care program.
Thomas retired with 23 years of military service five years in the North Carolina Army National Guard and 18 years active-duty service for the United States Army, with three combat deployments to the middle east, plus overseas assignments to the Europe and Asia. He has 18 years of military human resource experience and knowledge.
While in service he has experience in building community relationships with Soldiers, Families, and Civilians. Thomas has resided here in South Carolina since 2019.
In his role he focuses on aiding the P4-Handle with Care team and counties of South Carolina working with local law enforcement agencies, emergency services, and schools to implement the Handle with Care initiatives.
Thomas completed his Associate's degree in General Studies at Fayetteville Technical Community College and his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration - Human Resource Management at Columbia Southern University.
Email: thomas.washington@uscmed.sc.edu\
Nicole Hamm, Ed.S, LPC-A, NCC, is the Mental Wellness Coordinator for the P4/Handle with Care Program. Nicole has a Bachelor of Arts in Experimental Psychology, an Education Specialist degree in Counselor Education, and a Play Therapy certification from the University of South Carolina. She is an LPC-A, nationally certified counselor, and certified K-12 school counselor in South Carolina. Nicole spent four years working in a charter school as a school counselor and Director of Counseling. Throughout her time in the school systems, she had the opportunity to work on crisis teams as a crisis counselor and wrote and maintained crisis protocols for the school.
Nicole has developed and presented various training to teachers and staff on Trauma & the Brain, Student Behavior and Rapport, and Cultivating Connections with Students, Teachers, and Yourself. In 2019, she presented an academic research poster focused on self-esteem and school connectedness in Vienna, Austria, at the European Branch of the American Counseling Association.
Nicole is a mental health therapist who works specifically with children, teens, and young adults. She specializes in play therapy and works from the framework that play is the universal language of children. She is passionate about advocating for mental health and access to resources, specifically in the school systems.
Email: Nicole.Hamm@uscmed.sc.edu
Alecia Fludd (Winthrop MSW)
Chapin Fallaw (USC BSW)
Mia Mundano (USC MSW)
Lily Talarico (USC BSW)
Handle With Care is a national notification model that allows schools to know that a child has been exposed to a traumatic event and, thus, “handle with care.” Coupled with trauma-informed practices and school/community-based mental health, children can receive timely support in order to mitigate the effects trauma have on the brain, body, learning, and behavior.
The P4 project attempts, not only to implement Handle With Care within K-12 schools, but also to provide an avenue for support for our littlest learners in preschool, early childhood, early intervention, daycare, and home settings. (See Flow Charts for the HWC process below).
Interest Site: An interest site is a district that has contacted and completed an interest meeting and has created a plan for next steps for implementing Handle With Care.
Implementation Site: An implementation site is a district that has held an interest meeting, established their notification protocol, initiated collaboration with law enforcement and has held the kickoff meeting.
Demonstration Site: A demonstration site has worked through all the steps of both interest and implementation site, and has received and responded to Handle With Care notices.
Active Site: An active site has worked through all the steps of interest, implementation, and demonstration sites, and is functioning independently as a Handle With Care district with a complete trauma-informed framework.
Dr. Rikki McCormick is the Director of Veterans’ Education and Training Programs for the state of West Virginia. She was previously an Education Associate in the Office of Special Education Services for the South Carolina Department of Education, tasked primarily in bringing Handle With Care to South Carolina. Prior to being with the SCDE, she was the Director of Special Education and Student Support Services for Lincoln County Schools in Hamlin, WV and built the first trauma-responsive district in the state, and one of the first in the nation. She completed her undergraduate degree in Sports Medicine/Athletic Training at Concord University and has done her graduate work through Marshall University. Dr. McCormick Lowe’s dissertation focused on Twitter’s uses in education. Her research interests have been in auditory processing disorder, D/deaf education, trauma informed care, youth mental health, educational technology, and digital citizenship.
Email: rikki.mccormick@uscmed.sc.edu
Suzanne Snyder, a licensed professional counselor with over 20 years in the mental health field, she currently works at the South Carolina Department of Education as the Mental Health Program Manager. In this role, Ms. Snyder is responsible for helping districts integrate mental health in schools and respond to the mental health needs of students and staff more effectively. She currently has a private practice in Columbia, SC and specializes in depression, anxiety, and life issues with an emphasis on working with adolescents, young adults, and the LGBTQ+ community. Her background includes working in the HIV/AIDS community, specializing in transgender healthcare, Columbia Area Mental Health Child and Adolescent Clinic as the BabyNet Mental Health Coordinator, and Vocational Rehabilitation career services as a Rehabilitation Counselor. She has a Master of Arts in Counselor Education from Lenoir Rhyne University in Hickory, NC. Suzanne is married with two children, a son at the University of South Carolina and a daughter in the 9th grade.
Email: SSnyder@ed.sc.gov