The Complex Trauma Training Consortium (CTTC) is a national trainer-training and workforce development initiative that will establish sustainable expertise in complex trauma understanding, assessment, and treatment within each of the 50 US states, the 5 territories, DC, and the four largest US metropolitan areas. The CTTC will create a self-sustainable network of over 200 state and territory-based trainers across 60 affiliate organizations nationwide, increasing access to resources and addressing behavioral health disparities in underserved areas with historically limited NCTSN presence. The 20-module, 40-hour CTTC curriculum spans a comprehensive range of topics, including the intersection of complex trauma with such adverse life experiences such as ancestral trauma, systemic racism, and substance abuse, and emphasizes the effects of complex trauma on high-risk and marginalized groups including immigrants, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ youth and families. The CTTC will conduct over 1,000 training events, delivering training to over 20,000 multidisciplinary providers, consumer and allied professionals nationwide. The CTTC is a partnership between Adelphi University, Alaska Behavioral Health, the Foundation Trust, and the University of Chicago, and is comprised of a faculty of over two dozen subject matter experts diverse in race, culture, language, geography and lived experience.
Adelphi University / Institute for Adolescent Trauma Treatment & Training
Allegheny General Hospital Center for Traumatic Stress in Children & Adolescents
Allegheny General Hospital's Center for Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents' Treatment and Service Adaptation Center has national expertise in Evidence-Based Treatments for Traumatic Stress Reactions. The developers of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and Alternatives for Families: A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (AF-CBT) will address behavioral health disparities for children with traumatic stress reactions including: 1) African American children who experience racial trauma; 2) children with parental substance abuse; and 3) children with COVID-19-related childhood traumatic grief (CTG). African American youth experience high rates of racial trauma, traumatic stress reactions, and are over-represented in child welfare and juvenile justice systems. We will conduct a learning community with Community Treatment and Services (CTS) Centers to adapt TF-CBT for racial trauma and develop related implementation products. Children with parental substance abuse (PSA) are at increased risk for child maltreatment and for developing traumatic stress reactions including traumatic separation and/or CTG. We will conduct a learning community with CTS Centers in order to adapt TF-CBT for youth with PSA and develop related implementation products. Thousands of children with COVID-19-related CTG have unique clinical manifestations that are under-recognized and under-treated. We will develop training products and train professionals in an integrated approach to recognize and respond to COVID-19-related CTG. We will increase TF-CBT and AF-CBT dissemination and sustainability by 1) training new TF-CBT supervisors and trainers, 2) developing a new online AF-CBT training course; and 3) providing TF-CBT or AF-CBT training, consultation or technical assistance.
Arizona State University-REACH Institute
For more than 30 years, researchers from the REACH Institute have developed several evidence-based programs that focus on improving the lives of children and families. CRF will adapt, widely implement and disseminate four of the evidence-based parenting interventions, all of which have been rigorously tested and shown to be effective at strengthening resilience among traumatized families. These interventions are: Adaptive Parenting Tools (previously known as After Deployment, Adaptive Parenting Tools)/ADAPT for first responders, refugee/immigrant families, and military families; Resilient Parenting for Bereaved Families, New Beginnings for high-conflict divorce families, and Bridges for Latinx and African-American inner-city parents. Program developers Drs. Abigail Gewirtz, Nancy Gonzales, Armando Pina, Sharlene Wolchik, and Irwin Sandler, will work closely with communities across the nation to widely disseminate online, self-directed versions of these parenting EBPs. Over the next five years, these interventions aim to serve more than 35,000 people and specifically target isolated families in transition, such as: • refugee and immigrant families • those exposed to the death of a parent • community violence • parental wartime deployment • high-conflict divorce • first responder parents The REACH Institute is thrilled to house the longstanding work of the Center for Resilient Families and its dedication to addressing the public health impact of childhood trauma through a family context, providing education, and training for parents.
Baystate Medical Center-Dept of Psychiatry
The Child Advocacy Training and Support Center (CATS) in Baystate Medical Center’s Dept of Psychiatry coordinates and consolidates the vast resources and expertise of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) to support Child Advocacy Centers (CACs) in meeting their mission with the primary goal of increasing access to trauma informed services for children and their families. The CATS Center team, in partnership with national experts on CAC service delivery, evidence-based treatment (EBT) trauma curriculum developers, and stakeholders representing each multidisciplinary team (MDT), disseminates trauma informed care (TIC) training across the CAC system. The CATS Center goals are: 1) Establishing a national training center to support CACs in ensuring their MDT members are trauma-informed and have specialized tools, skills, and resources for effective service delivery. 2) Increasing system capacity and competencies of the CAC MDT professionals’ (i.e., medical, mental health, law enforcement, child-welfare, victim advocates) trauma-informed response using a learning collaborative model and specialized curriculum specific to each discipline. 3. Increasing availability of training in EBTs, such as Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy to mental health professionals within CACs. 3) Supporting sustainability of TIC throughout CAC MDTs by serving as a continuing resource for training, consultation, and technical assistance and providing additional training regarding priority areas such as commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking, problem sexual behaviors, screening and engagement, and secondary traumatic stress prevention. 4) Developing and consolidate NCTSN products specifically for CAC service systems such as factsheets and webinars.
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 Resilient Communities (CRC)
The Office of Community Health, Engagement, and Resiliency (OCHER) in the School of Social Work at Arizona State University works in partnership with community members and organizations to address social issues and promote resiliency among populations of the Southwest region of the U.S. There is a pressing need for training and education on early intervention, mental health promotion, and prevention of long-term consequences of childhood trauma given (a) high rates of poverty, (b) the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and (c) documented gaps in programs addressing family resilience. There are several unique challenges surrounding trauma treatment and service delivery in systematically marginalized communities, including historical trauma leading to mistrust of medical and mental health professionals, absence of culturally appropriate trauma prevention and intervention services, and lack of access to treatment in rural areas. Due to their comprehensive understanding of barriers to services, and the sociocultural context of underserved populations, Community Health Workers (CHWs) are a promising strategy for the delivery of health and mental health services, especially among Black, American Indian, and Latinx populations. OCHER works to build on the existing potential of CHWs by adapting evidence-based trauma treatments and co-developing trauma training in partnership with the community, with an emphasis on cultural relevance, appropriateness, effectiveness, and sustainability. With technical assistance from OCHER, CHWs can take existing, technical health information, and culturally and linguistically tailor it to the intended community. Through this work, OCHER builds resiliency among CHWs through specialized training, informational webinars, a trauma and resilience toolkit, and a CHW certificate program centering on healing and resilience from trauma.
Center for Safe Supportive Schools
The Center for Safe Supportive Schools (CS3) reflects a national-regional partnership between the National Center for School Mental Health (NCSMH) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, the NCTSN Center for Trauma Care in Schools (CTCS; Massachusetts) and the Center for Childhood Resilience (CCR; Illinois), a team of national-regional experts and trainers on the impact of childhood trauma exposure and trauma-informed systems, policies and practices and their fit within multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) in schools. The CS3 will address critical gaps by integrating and aligning trauma-informed policies and practices into comprehensive SMH systems nationwide; augmenting existing school trauma approaches by attending to social determinants and injustices that lead to disparities and improving engagement of youth of color and newcomer youth in school-based trauma supports; and, integrating trauma-informed training into pre-service workforce development for educators and behavioral health staff. The CS3 has three goals: Goal 1: Build state and district capacity to deliver multi-tiered, trauma-informed policies and programming, including universal (Tier 1), targeted (Tier 2) and intensive (Tier 3), within K-12 comprehensive school mental health (SMH) systems nationwide; Goal 2: Support training and implementation of school-based trauma interventions that attend to social determinants and injustices and engage and support specific marginalized populations, including youth of color and newcomer (refugee and immigrant) youth; Goal 3: Integrate TIS into pre-service educator and mental health provider preparation.
Child First, Inc.
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.
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).