The CARES Institute at Rowan University is internationally recognized for its leadership with respect to research, education, and services for children and families impacted by abuse and other traumas. Through collaboration with local constituencies and NCTSN members, the Institute helps increase awareness of, identify obstacles to, and improve access to multidisciplinary services for children who have experienced abuse or other violent crimes. Two evidence-based mental health practices developed and tested at the CARES Institute include Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) for youth and families impacted by trauma and Combined Parent-Child Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, an intervention for families at risk for physical abuse. The CARES Institute also works to enhance public and professional efforts toward the early identification and protection of children at risk for abuse, while also contributing to efforts to improve children's access to developmentally and culturally sensitive, evidence-based treatment services through its ongoing dissemination efforts. In addition, the Institute provides lectures, training, and consultation to multidisciplinary professionals across the state of New Jersey, nationwide, and at international conferences.
Network Members
This listing of NCTSN members includes current grantees as well as NCTSN Affiliates, former grantees who have maintained their ties to the Network.
CARES Institute at Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine
Casas, Marta, LMHC
Marta Casas, LMHC graduated from Javeriana University in Bogotá, Colombia, as a Clinical Psychologist in 1981. In 2002, Marta moved to Boston to become part of the clinical team at the Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute, where she continues conducting trauma evaluations of unaccompanied minors and survivors of human trafficking, providing clinical consultation for DCF-involved families, and is also training faculty at the Trauma Center certificate program, on the topic of trauma and culture. In 2007 Marta was trained and now part of the alumni of the Harvard Refugee Program in Global Mental Health. Since 2007, Marta has been a longstanding and active member of the NCTSN Culture Consortium and Translations Review Committee. Between 2007 and 2011, Marta was the team leader of the Latino Child Traumatic Stress Initiative, a SAMHSA/NCTSN-funded program at the Latin American Health Institute in Boston. Between 2011 and 2014, Marta worked at the Child Witness to Violence Project at Boston Medical Center, where she did clinical work with children and caregivers and was member of the training team and cultural liaison of the Massachusetts Child Trauma Project, an ACF-funded initiative that provides training and on-going consultation in evidence-based trauma approaches and treatments to strengthen Massachusetts DCF casework practices. Between 2013 and 2015, Marta was adjunct faculty at Boston College Graduate School of Social Work on Adult Psychosocial Pathology. At the present, Marta is the Director of Clinical Services at the Justice Resource Institute. She has done extensive work on the topic of the interplay between psychological trauma and cultural identity of both therapist and patient in the clinical work.
Catholic Charities Hawaii
Catholic Charities Hawaii provides clinical treatment for children and adolescents who have experienced traumatic events as victims and/or witnesses of domestic violence. Catholic Charities Hawaii will utilize Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) in the treatment of children, adolescents, and their families. In addition, the agency provides community based trainings to educate state agencies, the military, schools, clinicians, and service providers on TF-CBT and working with traumatized children.
Catholic Charities of the East Bay
Catholic Charities of the East Bay Mental Health Department provides services utilizing a trauma-informed restorative practices model serving individuals and families in urban settings. Our model is a unique adaptation of
CBT, Motivational Interviewing, and community based restorative healing practices that addresses issues common to youth and adults that have experienced intergenerational poverty, family and community violence, criminal justice system involvement, and health, housing, and educational disparities. Our clinicians are based in schools and community settings in Contra Costa and Alameda Counties in California.
Catholic Charities, Inc.
Catholic Charities, Inc. and a constellation of Mississippi State government and nonprofit organizations joined the NCTSN to serve a wide range of urban, rural, and geographically isolated child trauma survivors. The first funding period was dedicated to providing evidence-based trauma training to Catholic Charities clinicians in home-based, residential, therapeutic foster care, unaccompanied refugee minor, and outpatient (Solomon) centers, and to providing cutting edge information to the community at large.
Based on the lessons learned through participation in a trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) learning collaborative in its first funding period, TRY implemented a Gulf Coast TF-CBT learning collaborative to build capacity in agencies to treat children and families affected by trauma after the region’s devastation from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Catholic Charities went on to develop a statewide trauma-informed system of care to meet the needs of children and families throughout Mississippi. Evidence-based practices were disseminated to public mental health clinicians via the Learning Collaborative model, with an emphasis on systems serving those least likely to have access to quality mental health care. Catholic Charities collaborated with NCTSN experts to provide TF-CBT learning collaboratives and Structured Psychotherapy for Adolescents Responding to Chronic Stress (SPARCS) learning collaboratives, as well as participating in training on the treatment of physically abused children. Currently, Catholic Charities clinicians serve as trauma experts in Mississippi and continue providing direct services to adults and children affected by trauma.
Celano, Marianne, PhD, ABPP
Marianne Celano is a board certified couple and family psychologist with over 30 years of experience in working with children and families. She is certified in TF-CBT, and certified as a PCIT therapist and Level I Trainer. In partnership with Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA), she has been mentoring masters level clinicians in TFCBT throughout Georgia, first with an NCTSN/SAMHSA grant, and now with a grant from the Department of Justice.
CenClear
CenClear Child Services, Inc. (dba CenClear) was established in 1980 as a non-profit corporation. Head Start is the original program and the program on which CenClear's comprehensive service delivery system is modeled. Through the provision of Head Start Services, it was soon realized that there were other issues that the Head Start program alone could not address. Early on it was discovered that accessible mental health services for children, particularly under the age of five, were limited or nonexistent. As a result of this CenClear submitted an application and was awarded the contract to provide Family-Based Mental Health (FBMH) Services. Since then, CenClear has continued to expand to meet the needs of the communities we serve and now provides an arrays of mental health and drug and alcohol services. Over this time, we have recognized the importance and need to be trauma informed and to provide evidence-based trauma interventions. As an agency, we have begun the process of Sanctuary certification. We have had staff trained as Mental Health First Aid Trainers (youth and adult) and regularly offer in house and out-of-house trainings. In addition, we have increased training for staff to be certified in various EBPs, partnered with the county to develop a Child Advocacy Center (CAC), and have two mental health clinics and a drug and alcohol clinic certified as Trauma Informed Care Centers through BHARP. The SAMSHA Healing After Trauma (H.A.T.) grant is a further extension of CenClear's vision to meet the needs of the communities we serve and promote healing and recovery through the use of evidence based practices (EBPs), increased accessibility and service capacity for children and youth who have experienced trauma.
Center for Applied Research Solutions
The School Crisis Recovery and Renewal (SCRR) project supports educators, school staff, and school-based clinicians to effectively implement trauma-informed crisis response, recovery, and renewal strategies. The Center for Applied Research Solutions (CARS), in partnership with Trauma Transformed (T2) and leading researchers, create curricula, training opportunities, and best-practice resources to promote long-term recovery and renewal after school crisis. Nationally, the SCRR Team provides training and technical assistance (TTA) services and resources to state and local education agencies (SEAs/LEAs); district teams; school leaders; school mental health providers, support staff, and educators; community partners; and other school mental health stakeholders. We offer intensive consultations to a small number of districts and schools, with attention to ensuring parity across U.S. regions and promoting equitable access for schools. Working with school crisis experts, including students and families with lived experience, the SCRR Team will co-create a practice-oriented curriculum for schools navigating school crisis recovery and renewal. Into the project, we will deliver the curriculum through Regional Training Collaboratives (RTCs) of educators, youth and families, school staff, and other personnel who have been impacted by a school crisis. Integrating their recommendations, we will create a train-the-trainer curriculum and a set of national standards for school crisis recovery and renewal best practices. The SCRR project website, distance learning events, and resources will promote effective adoption and implementation for student and educator-driven school crisis recovery and renewal practices and policies at a national level.
Center for Child and Family Health, Inc.
The Center for Child and Family Health's (CCFH) Project Connect: Promoting Recovery from Childhood Trauma increases access to and improves the quality of trauma-focused treatments and services for children, adolescents, and their families who experience traumatic events to improve child, family, and system outcomes and address behavioral health disparities among minorities. CCFH targets diverse youth (birth to 21; > 65% African American, Asian, American Indian, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, or Multiracial; 31% Hispanic origin) and their families exposed to trauma, including children in military families or involved in the child welfare system. Project Connect (1) increases use of trauma treatment for children and families in our outpatient clinic through engagement strategies; (2) provides a comprehensive array of evidence-based trauma-informed treatments for youth and their caregivers (Child Parent Psychotherapy, Cognitive Processing Therapy, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, SPARCS, Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and collaborates with other NCTSN centers to pilot additional interventions (Attachment, Self-Regulation, and Competence; Multi-dimensional Grief Therapy); (3) enhances screening of children and their caregivers for co-occurring mental health and substance use concerns; (4) increases our community's capability to provide prevention and intervention services by providing trauma-informed trainings to service systems; (5) enhances sustainability by addressing policy and fiscal opportunities by collaborating with local social services, mental health, and managed care organizations; and (6) improves the quality of and access to trauma-focused services locally and nationally by participating in SAMHSA and NCTSN workgroups and collaborations.
Center for Child and Family Traumatic Stress at Kennedy Krieger Institute
Center for Child and Family Traumatic Stress is a program of Kennedy Krieger Institute, a Johns Hopkins University-affiliated specialty hospital internationally recognized for improving the lives of children and adolescents with pediatric developmental disabilities and disorders of the brain, spinal cord and musculoskeletal system, through patient care, special education, research, and professional training. Located in an urban community in Baltimore, the Center for Child and Family Traumatic Stress provides high-quality, culturally sensitive, comprehensive clinical programs and community-based services for children and families who experience or may be at risk for trauma related to maltreatment and exposure to violence. The Center offers a range of evidence-based and trauma-informed services, including prevention, treatment, specialized foster care, community outreach, advocacy, research and training through four main programs and services: Outpatient Mental Health Program, Therapeutic Foster Care Program, Early Head Start, and the Trauma Training Academy. The Outpatient Mental Health Program is a winner of one of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse & Mental Health Service Administration's (SAMHSA) 2009 Science and Service Awards in the category of"Treatment of Mental Illness and Recovery Support Services" for its implementation of trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy. Since its participation in the NCTSN, the Center for Child and Family Traumatic Stress (CCFTS) is dedicated to providing quality clinical services using evidence-based and evidence-informed assessment and treatment practices. As an affiliate member, the Center remains involved with NCTSN activities focused on child sexual and physical abuse, complex trauma, trauma and substance abuse, early childhood trauma, traumatic experiences on parents, trauma-informed child welfare practices, secondary traumatic stress, cultural competence, family systems, policy and partnering with youth and families.