SALT LAKE CITY, March 31, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- INTERMOUNTAIN NEWS RELEASE
Approximately 1 in 15 children in Utah will experience the death of a parent or sibling before the age of 18. Bereavement has been recognized as both the most common – and most distressing – form of trauma in the Beehive state and nationwide.
While experts say grief is a natural response to bereavement, children who experience grief without adequate support are at greater risk for a range of negative outcomes, including academic challenges, relationship difficulties, substance use, post-traumatic stress, depression, and increased suicide risk.
That’s why a new national initiative to standardize and implement best-practice treatments for high-quality trauma and bereavement care at children’s hospitals across the United States is so vital.
The Trauma and Grief Center (TAG Center) at Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, which is based in Dallas, Texas, is responding to this need.
As a national leader in advancing best-practice treatments for youth who have experienced significant trauma or the loss of a loved one, The TAG center is establishing a national network of children’s hospitals dedicated to best practice care in trauma and grief.
As part of that initiative, Intermountain Children’s Health and Primary Children’s Hospital campuses in Utah (SLC, Lehi, and Taylorsville), have earned the honor as the first member of the national Trauma and Grief (TAG) Network in the Western United States.
Other members of the TAG Network are hospitals in Michigan, Louisiana, and Texas.
“Being recognized as a TAG Network member affirms Intermountain Children’s Health’s long-standing commitment to supporting children and families in navigating healing after trauma and loss,” said Angelo P. Giardino, MD, PhD, chair of the University of Utah School of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics and chief medical officer at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital.
“We look forward to our partnership with the TAG Center to continue to find ways that we can better support the children and families we serve in our community.”
The TAG Center national initiative is made possible thanks to a generous investment from the New York Life Foundation.
“The New York Life Foundation is proud to support the TAG Network and this inaugural partnership with Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital,” said Maria Collins, vice president of the New York Life Foundation. “The New York Life Foundation’s strategic, long-term investment in the Trauma and Grief Center and the TAG Network is enabling this significant milestone. We are proud to be behind an approach that can be replicated nationwide to strengthen how systems respond to trauma and loss, so no family navigates grief alone,” added Collins.
Through the initiative, The TAG Center at the Meadows Institute is providing ongoing trainings, consultation, and technical assistance in evidence-based assessment and intervention to network members for treatment of children exposed to trauma and loss.
"We’re deeply honored that Intermountain Children’s Health and Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital has chosen to serve as our newest TAG Network affiliate,” said Julie Kaplow, PhD, executive director of the Trauma and Grief Center at the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute.
“This partnership will enhance the continuum of trauma and grief-informed care across the hospital and further ensure that children and families throughout Utah and the Intermountain West have access to the highest standard of care,” said Dr. Kaplow. “Trauma and loss touch every community and almost every hospital service line, but all too often the impact on children goes unrecognized and untreated.”
The TAG Network affiliation builds on the long-standing commitment of Intermountain Children’s Health already in place in providing trauma-informed care to children and families.
Intermountain Primary Children’s Center for Safe and Healthy Families, an integrated medical and behavioral health clinic specializing in the assessment and treatment of youth experiencing child abuse and trauma, has delivered evidence-based trauma-focused interventions for decades and has trained more than 1,000 therapists in trauma-focused treatments within Intermountain Children’s Health and the Intermountain West.
Over the past ten years, Safe and Healthy Families and Intermountain Children’s Health have also spearheaded a nationally recognized Care Process Model for Pediatric Traumatic Stress.
This model ensures children are screened for trauma during well-child visits and are seamlessly connected to behavioral health services when needed.
Pediatric Behavioral Health leaders have further strengthened this work by expanding access to evidence-based trauma treatments across all three Intermountain Health Primary Children’s campuses, including the newly opened Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital Behavioral Health Campus in Taylorsville, Utah, and the Intermountain Primary Children’s Miller Campus in Lehi, Utah.
“The designation of Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital as a TAG Network member is a recognition of our ongoing efforts and a reminder of the continued efforts we must make to best support children and families in some of their hardest moments,” said Cristina Hudak-Rosander, PhD, a licensed psychologist and behavioral health clinic manager at Safe and Healthy Families, who played a key role in the designation. “Our membership highlights Intermountain Health’s “Power of We” philosophy, as this partnership with Meadows Institute would not be possible without collaboration across the Intermountain Children’s Health network.”
The death of a loved one can change a child's life forever.
Through participation in the national TAG Network and support from the New York Life Foundation, Intermountain Children’s Health is strengthening its commitment to ensuring grieving children and families receive the care they need.
A multidisciplinary team of Intermountain Children’s Health therapists recently completed specialized training in the nation’s only evidence-based intervention designed specifically for bereaved children – Multidimensional Grief Therapy (MGT).
This training, facilitated by the TAG Center, helps ensure that grieving children in Utah have access to best-practice care.
“While trauma-focused treatments can be adapted for bereavement, incorporating evidence-based therapy developed specifically for grief will allow Intermountain therapists to bettersupport children experiencing loss,” said Dustin Lipson, president of Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital and Intermountain Children’s Health Services.
“Offering these services within Intermountain Children’s Health helps to fill a critical gap within our community. I’m very proud of our caregivers who worked so hard to help us achieve this important designation and for their dedication to our patients and the community,” said Lipson.
Providing evidence-based treatment for grief expands on the bereavement services already offered by Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital and Intermountain Children’s Health, including day-of-death support for families, on-going follow-up from bereavement coordinators, grief support groups and summer camps for children and teens, and an annual memorial tribute for families.
For anyone concerned about the impact of trauma or loss on your child and interested in trauma-focused or grief-focused therapy, please contact Intermountain Primary Children’s Center for Safe and Healthy Families at 801-662-3606 during regular business hours.
For other behavioral health services, please call Intermountain Primary Children’s Assessment, Referral and Consultation Services (ARCS) line at 385-478-2400.
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Link to Download Photos, B-Roll Video, and portions of today’s announcement:
Lance Madigan Intermountain Health 385.275.8245 intermountainnews@imail.org