Live Webcast Helps Children and Families Affected by the Gulf Oil Spill

MADISON, Wis., July 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- As all five states along the Gulf of Mexico are experiencing the worst oil spill in the nation's history, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), coordinated by the UCLA/Duke University National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, will discuss psychological first aid and the impact of the oil spill on children and families during a live webinar via Mediasite by Sonic Foundry, Inc. (Nasdaq: SOFO), the recognized market leader for rich media webcasting and knowledge management.

WHAT: Live Webinar: Assisting Children and Families Affected by the Gulf Oil Spill

WHEN: Tuesday, July 7 at 10:00am PDT/1:00pm EDT

WHERE: Register at http://learn.nctsn.org/ to view live or on-demand.

The panel of behavioral health experts from around the nation will address the core concerns different communities are experiencing, and share activities and resources that are currently available, as well as discuss strategies for long-term recovery.

"Psychological first aid is an intervention we've developed for the immediate aftermath of a disaster," said Melissa Brymer, Ph.D., Psy.D., Director of Terrorism and Disaster Programs at UCLA's National Center for Child Traumatic Stress. "We have a manual, but the manual doesn't describe how to use the principles for this type of crisis. We've developed a web-based course using Mediasite to teach real-time examples of how to adopt psychological first aid for different types of disasters."

"The ease and the ability to be far-reaching in real-time is crucial for the work that I do. I cannot plan when disasters will happen," Brymer continued. "But Mediasite gives us the flexibility to share expertise from around the country to the local community, and that has been crucial. We can increase the quality of care for that population and the access of care for providers who are serving children who may not have the opportunity to work with our centers closely."

The NCTSN was established in 2000 to raise the standard of care for children coping with trauma by bringing together the best experts in the nation to not only study this, but also disseminate evidence-based treatment. Using the Mediasite webcasting platform to train and inform, the Network has helped children cope with countless disasters and traumatic events, including 9/11, hurricanes, car accidents, school shootings, parents serving in the Gulf War and most recently, the oil spill.

"This is a unique disaster and children are showing extreme distress. Older children of fishermen who expected to spend the summer learning the fishing trade are experiencing a lot of anger and frustration that they won't be able to help support their families. There's anger over dying animals.  There's anger that the beaches are covered with people in yellow jumpsuits instead of being a fun part of summer vacation. This webinar will give parents and volunteers tools to help children cope with the images and changes they are seeing in their community," said Brymer.

"Oil doesn't stop at state lines. Using Mediasite guarantees the National Child Traumatic Stress Network the opportunity to cut across state lines in order to share resources and make sure all families get the same quality of care," said Rimas Buinevicius, chairman and CEO of Sonic Foundry. "Our five-year partnership reinforces Mediasite's emergency response effectiveness and underscores how educational technology can play an important role in both long-term recovery plans and short term crisis communication."

Additional online resources:

Examples of NCTSN's web-based courses: http://learn.nctsn.org/

NCTSN on-demand presentation outlining their work with Mediasite

About The National Child Traumatic Stress Network

Established by Congress in 2000, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) is a unique collaboration of academic and community-based service centers whose mission is to raise the standard of care and increase access to services for traumatized children and their families across the United States. Combining knowledge of child development, expertise in the full range of child traumatic experiences, and attention to cultural perspectives, the NCTSN serves as a national resource for developing and disseminating evidence-based interventions, trauma-informed services, and public and professional education.

About Sonic Foundry®, Inc.

Sonic Foundry (NASDAQ: SOFO, www.sonicfoundry.com) is the global leader for rich media webcasting and knowledge management, providing enterprise communication solutions for 1,800 customers in education, business and government. Powered by Mediasite, the patented webcasting platform which automates the capture, management, delivery and search of lectures, online training and briefings, Sonic Foundry empowers people to transform the way they communicate. Through the Mediasite platform and its Events Services group, the company helps customers connect a dynamic, evolving world of shared knowledge and envisions a future where learners and workers around the globe use webcasting to bridge time and distance, accelerate research and improve performance.

Product and service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of Sonic Foundry, Inc. or their respective owners.

Certain statements contained in this news release regarding matters that are not historical facts may be forward-looking statements. Because such forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to, uncertainties pertaining to continued market acceptance for Sonic Foundry's products, its ability to succeed in capturing significant revenues from media services and/or systems, the effect of new competitors in its market, integration of acquired business and other risk factors identified from time to time in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE Sonic Foundry, Inc.