Child First will create a national Center for Prevention and Early Trauma Treatment (CPETT), which will address persistent gaps in prevention, identification, reflective consultation, early intervention, and treatment for very young children and families exposed to trauma and adversity. The evidence-based, two-generation Child First (CF) model will be replicated and serve young children (prenatal-5) and families with the highest levels of traumatic stress and concrete challenges. It employs a two-pronged approach with home-based teams, consisting of a licensed mental health clinician and a care coordinator, to 1) decrease multiple environmental stressors through intensive care coordination, while building parental executive functioning and 2) establish a nurturing, responsive parent-child relationship, which heals trauma and enhances resilience. To help facilitate a comprehensive system of care, CPETT will train a diverse array of early childhood mental health providers in a range of other diagnostic and therapeutic modalities, including Child-Parent Psychotherapy, Circle of Security, and Diagnostic Classification: 0-5. CPETT will adapt CF’s extensive training curriculum to create a new, web-based Early Childhood Mental Health Trauma Training. We will also offer in-person/virtual training and reflective clinical consultation groups to multiple providers, including home visiting, early care and education, pediatrics, and child welfare. Our goal is to create a trauma-informed community in which all providers understand the impact of trauma on young children; increase development-enhancing, trauma-informed practices; identify children needing further treatment; and refer to relationship-based therapeutic interventions that address mental health needs and heal trauma.
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.
Child First, Inc.
Child Health and Development Institute
The Child Health and Development Institute’s (CHDI) mission is to ensure healthy outcomes for children by advancing effective policies, stronger systems, and innovative practices. CHDI functions as an intermediary organization in collaboration with treatment developers, researchers, state agencies, community-based providers, legislators, family advocacy organizations, and others to promote sustainable improvements to children’s health and behavioral health systems and services. CHDI’s ScreenTIME (Screen, Triage, Inform, Mitigate, Engage) project will improve early identification and support of children suffering from traumatic stress and connection to evidence-based treatment. ScreenTIME will develop and disseminate online trainings in screening best practices tailored for schools, primary care, early childhood, child welfare, and juvenile justice staff. The overall goal is to improve identification of children suffering from trauma as early as possible and connect them with support and services as needed. The primary activities of ScreenTIME will be to 1) create and disseminate interactive online trainings in screening best practices for staff in child-serving systems; 2) ensure all materials represent and support child and family input; and 3) disseminate these resources nationally through the NCTSN.
Child HELP Partnership at St. John's University
The Center will train and support the delivery of evidence-based, culturally adapted trauma services and interventions for children exposed to disaster, sexual abuse, family violence, race-based and immigration trauma (e.g., unaccompanied minors), COVID-19, and traumatic deaths. Major stakeholders in children’s mental health–school personnel, parents, and mental health providers–will work in partnership to create a continuum-of-care at 18 sites nationwide. The Center aims to serve underserved children (ages 4-17) from culturally diverse backgrounds (e.g., people of color, LGBTQ+) who have been exposed to trauma and are experiencing diverse mental health responses. Each site’s trauma team will have representatives from schools, parents, youth, mental health clinics, and other social systems (e.g., police) and be responsible for implementing a tiered approach to services and interventions. Tier 1 is system-level psychoeducation (i.e., Trauma 101) to create a trauma-informed culture and provide a foundation for trauma EBIs. Tier 2 is early intervention delivered after trauma (i.e., Skills for Psychological Recovery) to prevent the development of mental disorders. Tier 3 is treatment for traumatized children and their caregivers (i.e., Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and Alternatives for Families-A Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy). After being trained and implementing the interventions, school counselors and mental health supervisors will participate in train-the-trainer programs to train others (e.g., teachers, clinicians).
Children and Youth Cabinet
In a climate of scarce behavioral health resources and great need, we raise and leverage public and private investments to deliver on resident-identified outcomes. We act as a nimble intermediary bringing together residents, public systems, community-based organizations, and funders. We’ve identified a suite of culturally-relevant evidence-based programs with proven successes that can be effectively implemented to achieve results. Our current programs that track specifically to symptoms of PTSD and were selected by the communities we serve, include: Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools: This evidence-based therapeutic intervention is designed to reduce anxiety, depression and the symptoms of post-traumatic stress (PTSD) in adolescents. Eighty percent of participating youth show improvement in PTSD symptoms. This program integrates the performing arts to engage youth in their own healing. The youth build social problem solving skills by reenacting difficult situations. They practice combating negative thoughts through activities such as "Helpful Other Thoughts". They also learn how to reduce anxiety through relaxation techniques. Act and Adapt: This evidence-based program reduces symptoms of acute depression in adolescents through school-based therapeutic groups. The youth learn how to cope with stress by solving problems within their control and – for problems outside of their control – by adapting. The program has been successfully implemented with Latinx and BIPOC adolescents in more than 40 schools in the Chicago Public School system and has been rigorously evaluated. Positive outcomes have included high retention, high participant satisfaction, and statistically lower depressive symptoms.
Children's Advocacy Center - University of Missouri - St. Louis
Children's Advocacy Services of Greater St. Louis is a University-based, multidisciplinary center that provides trauma-focused services to youth, families, and the community. We serve children impacted by all types of traumatic events including childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, and neglect. We also serve witnesses of domestic abuse and violent crime and children who have suffered accidents, natural disasters, and traumatic bereavement. The goal of our grant, Project CONTACT (Community Operations Network for Treatment After Childhood Trauma) is to partner with community agencies to increase participation in our Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention (CFTSI).
Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Inc., Georgia Child Traumatic Stress Initiative
The Georgia Child Traumatic Stress Initiative is a partnership between the Stephanie V. Blank Center for Safe and Healthy Children (CSHC) and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences of Emory University School of Medicine. The objectives of the project are to do the following: (1) provide trauma-informed services—including TraumaFocused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)—to children and adolescents in metropolitan Atlanta; (2) offer webinars on mental health topics to child service agencies in the Atlanta community; (3) provide training in TF-CBT and mentoring in the application of evidence-based practices to multiple small groups of mental health providers who serve child victims of abuse/neglect in rural and underserved areas of north Georgia; and (4) develop and pilot a TF-CBT telemental health service to provide therapy to traumatized children and their families in rural and underserved areas of Georgia.
Children's Home Society of Florida
The Children's Home Society of Florida (CHS) is one of the oldest child welfare serving agencies in the state of Florida. Established in 1902, CHS is a statewide organization serving our most vulnerable children and their families in the state of Florida. As a funded NCTSN site from 2007 to 2021, we worked to better the lives of our children on an organizational, systemic, and child and family level. On an organizational level, we created a TIC Organizational Assessment, delivered annually since its inception. From this survey, we strengthened our policies and practices, our internal education curriculum, and our response to STS, focusing on the well-being of team members. We have worked with our communities, providing trauma focused trainings for our partners and other community members. We engaged in and led a community-wide, cross-sector group that identified and mobilized a holistic set of resources to aid children who have or are at risk of experiencing trauma. For our children and families, we specialized in evidenced based/informed practices including TFCBT, PCIT, CPP and Real Life Heroes. We implemented the use of trauma assessments in all clinical programs statewide assisting not only the identification of trauma experience, but related symptoms and associated diagnoses. We will continue our work in these areas as we move forward as an NCTSN Affiliate.
Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Center for Transyouth Health and Development
The Trans Community Trauma Treatment Center for Children and Adolescents (TCTTC) at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) is designed to improve the quality of trauma treatment and supportive services for youth ages 10- 21 who have experienced a unique set of developmentally adverse traumatic events due the incongruence between assigned birth sex and internal gender identity. The TCTTC is housed at the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, which has historically provided trauma training and trauma-focused multi-agency clinical supervision to clinical and other direct service staff working with youth experiencing homelessness. TCTCC will provide the following: (1) Provide services directed to transgender and non-binary (TGNB) children and adolescents ages 10-21; (2) Support capacity building initiatives targeting local and state level child serving agencies (e.g. child protective services, juvenile corrections, probation, department of mental health, local education agency) to increase their competency to serve TGNB children and adolescents. The TCTTC will utilize Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) as the evidence-based treatment (EBT) to be employed in this program. NET was selected for this project for its responsiveness to the needs and resilience of TGNB youth, the desired outcomes for this project, and the centrality of narrative for the coming out process for TGNB youth. This EBT will expand and complement the existing services offered at CHLA's Center for Transyouth Health and Development.
Children's Institute
Children’s Institute (CII) has served Los Angeles communities since 1906, supporting 30,000 children and families annually in achieving emotional well-being and educational success, which build pathways to economic mobility and lifelong health. As a leader in trauma-informed care and evidenced-based clinical treatment, CII trains thousands of professionals and caregivers each year, including teachers, therapists, and care coordinators. CII works in communities impacted by decades of underinvestment and racist policies—Echo Park, Watts, Compton, and Long Beach—offering education, counseling services, parenting support, convening spaces, and enrichment programs in the community and at its early education centers, K-12 schools, and neighborhood hubs. CII’s mission is to transform the lives of children exposed to adversity and poverty in Los Angeles by working in partnership with schools and communities to promote learning and emotional well-being, help children overcome obstacles, and develop resilience. CII provides counseling services to children, adolescents, transition-age youth, parents, and caregivers, with a team of professionals dedicated to identifying and reducing symptoms of traumatic stress, improving coping skills, and building resilience. Programs range from individual and family treatments to specialized therapeutic groups. Learn more at childrensinstitute.org.
Children's Research Triangle, Trauma Treatment Program: Increasing Trauma Services for Youth
CRT's Trauma Treatment Program (TTP) provides research-driven, trauma-informed programming that aims to increase the availability of therapeutic services for children, adolescents and their families who are at significant risk for, or have experienced, potentially traumatic events including: domestic violence, community violence, traumatic grief, childhood maltreatment, sexual abuse/assault, multiple foster care placements, military deployment, combat injury or death, natural disasters, and serious accidents or injuries. The youth we serve often struggle with the effects of complex trauma, including neurobehavioral difficulties, developmental delays, emotional and behavioral problems, learning disabilities and a plethora of conditions that adversely affect the quality of their lives. Our TTP clinicians utilize well-established, developmentally appropriate screening and assessment tools to determine each child’s specific needs for treatment, which may include individual, group, family, and/or child-parent dyadic psychotherapy. As a former Community Treatment and Service Center for the SAMHSA-funded National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), our therapists have received training in innovative treatment approaches that translate into trauma treatment of the highest industry standard and most effectively address the evolving needs of traumatized youth. Our interventions include a variety of evidence-based, trauma-informed approaches including Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP), Structured Psychotherapy for Adolescents Responding to Stress (SPARCS), Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Attachment, Regulation, and Competency (ARC), Theraplay®, and Families OverComing Under Stress (FOCUS) for Military Families. In addition, they draw from attachment, developmental, sensory-motor, and psychodynamic models, as well as art therapy and mind/body techniques that best meet the individualized needs of each child and family.