Expanding Child Trauma
Knowledge Among Emergency Medical Services Providers

On October 3rd the work of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network was shared with Emergency Medical Services (EMS) providers at North Carolina’s yearly EMS conference, Emergency Medicine Today. Emergency medical technicians, paramedics, emergency room and flight nurses, public health planners, and county medical directors were in attendance to learn
about the resources that NCTSN has to offer to these frontline providers.

Nick Tise, a Network liaison at the National
Center and long-time EMS provider, outlined the role EMS providers have in ameliorating the
effects of traumatic events that children often experience. “EMS providers often have to deal
with children on scenes of traumatic events,”
Nick said. “Whether it is working on a cardiac arrest of a loved one in front of the family, shootings and stabbings in public places, or the injury of a child himself, EMS providers often feel helpless in how to soothe the immediate and lessen the long-
term effects of these traumatic experiences.” (Continued)

Implementing TF-CBT in
New York State

The New York State Office of Mental Health and Columbia University are jointly looking at the feasibility of implementing TF-CBT across a large number of clinicians and organizations throughout the state. Kimberly Hoagwood, PhD, is heading
up the project at Columbia’s Evidence-Based Treatment Dissemination Center. (Continued)

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Recent Trainings and Research on Abuse-Focused CBT

The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
was recently awarded a grant from the NIMH entitled “Treatment of Child Physical Abuse: An Effectiveness Trial.” Known locally as the “Partnerships for Families” Study, this five-year, randomized clinical trial will evaluate the effectiveness of Abuse-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (AF-CBT), relative to
Treatment as Usual (TAU), in families presenting with child physical abuse or concerns about the
use of physical discipline in several community agencies.

The study investigators include David Kolko, Barbara Baumann, Amy Herschell, and Stephen Wisniewski. Several members of the NCTSN—Lucy Berliner, Judy Cohen, Barbara Burns, and Charles Glisson—serve as consultants on this study. David Kolko, PhD, completed advanced training seminars in AF-CBT to staff at the Hicks-Dellcrest Mental Health Centre (Toronto, Ontario) and Aisling Discoveries Child & Family Centre (Toronto, Ontario), and an initial training workshop in AF-CBT to staff at the DePelchin Children’s Center (Houston, TX), one of the NCTSN’s current members.

For more information, please contact David Kolko at kolkodj@upmc.edu.