Texas

The Texas Children Recovering from Trauma initiative will transform children’s mental health services in Texas into a trauma-informed care system that fosters resilience and recovery. The target populations are children and adolescents aged 3–17 who are from military families and/or who have experienced or witnessed trauma. The initiative will work to transform Texas’s mental health services, beginning with two local Mental Health Authorities (community mental health centers) in central Texas as pilot sites. The project will serve 1,360 unduplicated children and adolescents during the grant period, at least 10 percent of whom (136) will be from military families. To reach this goal, the initiative will train the Texas mental health workforce, enhancing policies and practices, and increasing the number of mental health professionals trained in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TF-CBT) and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT).

The Center for Success and Independence has created Safety Acceptance Freedom Empowerment (S.A.F.E), which will provide services to the Harris County, Texas, juvenile justice program including trauma-informed screening, assessment, and treatment services to adolescents; new trauma-informed and trauma-focused practices in its residential program; and systems changes through consensus building, training, and technical assistance. S.A.F.E targets these youth, aged 12-17, because of the high prevalence of PTSD in this population, and because studies show a link between traumatic stress and escalating delinquency.

Key objectives during the three-year project period include: 1) screening 330 adolescents for PTSD at Harris County Juvenile Probation (HCJP) sites; 2) providing trauma-informed assessment and residential treatment using Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) to 96 adolescents; 3) implementing at least one new trauma-informed practice and one new trauma-focused intervention in the Center's residential program, with new services delivered to 64 adolescents; 4) providing a minimum of 8 hours of training and 24 hours of technical assistance to HCJP staff in trauma-informed services provision; and 5) providing five additional training events for HCJP providers.

The DePelchin Children's Center Child Traumatic Stress Program delivers screening, assessment, case management, and mental health services to traumatized children residing in four southeast counties in Texas. Services are provided through DePelchin's foster care, adoption/postadoption, residential treatment, outpatient mental health counseling, and home-based therapy programs. DePelchin focuses on children who are the victims of complex trauma or who suffer from trauma related to traumatic loss, abuse (physical, psychological, or sexual), maltreatment, or neglect. As a result of its participation in the NCTSN, DePelchin has integrated an emphasis on trauma-informed practices throughout the agency. DePelchin works with the community to provide information and training on best practices in child trauma treatment, and to increase the availability of and improve access to mental health services in the Greater Houston metropolitan area. DePelchin has also been actively involved in supporting evacuees in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Refunded in 2008, DePelchin will implement the Child Trauma Program (DCTP) to mobilize Houston/Gulf Coast communities to help children and families address and overcome the unwanted effects of trauma. The DCTP will target 1) children affected by trauma and in need of trauma-informed and trauma-focused treatment including referral to culturally adapted services (240 children), 2) children and families impacted by the effects of natural disasters including Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (360 children), and 3) children and families of military personnel deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan (100 families). The primary service area is Greater Harris County, Texas, including Houston, parts of the Gulf Coast, and surrounding counties. The DCTP will bring together community leaders serving the target populations to expand access to and expertise in child trauma. Major goals are to: 1) establish a coordinated framework of community services, training, and leadership; 2) expand access to the delivery system of trauma-focused mental health care in the Houston/Gulf Coast area to children and families suffering the long-term effects of natural disaster and deployment trauma; and 3) provide leadership for the dissemination of information on the impact of trauma on children and families and the utilization of trauma-focused interventions.

The Border Traumatic Stress Response (Border TSR) Project at Serving Children and Adolescents in Need (S.C.A.N.), Inc. will continue work from the previous grant period, developing trauma-informed systems of care in Webb County and in targeted child service systems in the Rio Grande Valley and the state of Texas. The project will also maintain a Youth Trauma Coalition and Steering Committee; collaborate with experts from the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, and from Treatment and Services Adaptation Centers and Community Treatment and Services Centers about available practices for border children and adolescents, and specialized service settings and needed adaptations; implement selected project designs addressing strategic plan objectives and the best evidence-based services; and implement a tailored trauma-informed system for the targeted youth that relies on evidence-based services adapted to meet their cultural and linguistic needs. The target population is almost entirely first-generation Mexican Americans or Mexican immigrants who are bilingual or primarily Spanish speaking. Border TSR will serve 300 youth: children and adolescents aged 12-17 with co-occurring substance abuse and trauma who are receiving residential substance abuse treatment at S.C.A.N., and Webb County children and adolescents aged 3-17 who have experienced a traumatic event and who will receive outpatient trauma treatment.

The Aliviane Community Treatment and Services (CTS) Center will focus on children and adolescents exposed to complex trauma including emotional abuse, severe neglect, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and witnessing family or community violence. The target population, aged 6–17, is 94 percent Latino/Latina, with 86 percent living at or below the poverty level. Objectives during the lifetime of the grant include: 1) collaborating with a professional steering committee and consumer advisory board; 2) providing training on effective trauma practices and trauma awareness to 150 individuals; 3) assisting five community-based programs to implement trauma-informed practices consistent with NCTSN best practices; 4) providing training to eight CTS staff on Culturally Modified Trauma-Focused Treatment (CMTFT) and Integrative Treatment of Complex Trauma (ITCT); and 4) collecting data on client characteristics, evidence-based services received, and treatment outcomes for 500 children and adolescents in the target age group.