Lynn Garst is the Pediatric Disaster Coordinator at the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment and a consultant to The Center for Resilience and Wellbeing in Schools.  He has forty years of experience in children’s mental health, with expertise in child trauma. Lynn has a particular interest in helping prepare rural and frontier schools to address the behavioral health needs of students in the time of disaster, emergency, or crisis.

Mr. Garst has served as the Director of Child & Family Community-based Services at the Mental Health Center of Denver where he established and managed the Intensive Psychiatric Day Treatment Program. He also managed school-based, juvenile justice, child welfare, and outpatient programs.  He has worked closely with a number of community, state, and national organizations to improve mental health and disaster behavioral health services to children, youth, and families. Mr. Garst spent 12 years at The Children’s Hospital in Denver (now Children’s Hospital Colorado) and worked in public school and private industry settings. He worked as the Principal Investigator and Project Director for a SAMHSA HIV Targeted Capacity Expansion Grant, focusing on homeless and high risk emerging adults and for a SAMHSA National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative Grant, serving gang-involved and at-risk youth.  

Mr. Garst is active in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, where he co-chaired the School Committee for 10 years and serves on the Terrorism and Disaster Committee and Affiliate Advisory Group.  Lynn Garst is a nationally recognized expert in child trauma; has authored several publications and has served as keynote speaker and presenter at numerous state and national conferences.