Biography
April Naturale, PhD, is a traumatic stress specialist with 30 years of experience as a health/mental health care administrator, and a clinician specializing in response to traumatic events. As the VP of a psychiatric hospital, Dr. Naturale simultaneously developed one of the first special care nursing facilities for elder patients with mental health concerns in addition to their medical illnesses. Dr. Naturale directed the New York State response to the World Trade Center disaster, served as project director for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Disaster Technical Assistance Center (SAMHSA DTAC), helped launch the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, the BP Oil Spill Distress Helpline and the National Disaster Distress Helpline. She was the architect of the Boston Marathon Bombing Behavioral Health response and has been assisting the Office for Victims of Crime in mass violence response program development, needs assessment surveys and victim, family and provider forums for San Bernardino, the Las Vegas Harvest Festival, Pulse Nightclub, Parkland, Thousand Oaks, Pittsburgh Tree of Life, Virginia Beach, El Paso and Highland Ranch shootings. Over the past five years she has been training Humanitarian Aid workers for the European Union, psychologists in the Ukraine Military Service and crisis workers who launched the Ukraine’s first suicide prevention hotline.
