California

The University of Southern California Adolescent Trauma Training Center (USC-ATTC) will train clinicians and disseminate information throughout the United States on the assessment and treatment of trauma effects—including substance abuse—in multitraumatized, socially marginalized adolescents who come in contact with mental health, substance abuse, child welfare, and juvenile justice systems. The intervention that USC-ATTC will disseminate is the recently developed, empirically validated Integrative Treatment of Complex Trauma for Adolescents (ITCT-A). To further increase ITCT-A's focus on youth who are involved in significant alcohol or drug abuse, the center will consult with experts and will augment this treatment package with two additional components: mindfulness training and intervention in substance abuse. These new ITCT-A components will be expanded into more comprehensive, stand-alone treatment guides—Mindfulness Training for Traumatized Adolescents and Treating Substance Abuse Issues in Traumatized Adolescents—that can be used as supplements to treatment packages or in approaches other than ITCT-A. Additional products of this project will be posted on the USC-ATTC and NCTSN websites, and will be distributed in face-to-face and Web-based workshops for NCTSN and non-NCTSN individuals and groups.

Military Families Achieving Recovery (MFAR) will serve military children, youth, and families in the South Bay/Harbor region of Los Angeles County who face challenges such as deployment stressors, combat-related mental health problems, and poor access to services and consistent support. The project will develop and sustain a comprehensive suite of trauma-informed, community-based services that includes: 1) Outreach, Engagement, and Education; 2) Families OverComing Under Stress (FOCUS); and 3) Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TF-CBT). During the grant period, MFAR will treat an expected 360 military children, youth, and families for trauma-exposure; and will provide 1,300 military families and community professionals with outreach and engagement to educate them on trauma and its sequelae.

Restorative Trauma-lnformed Practices (TIPS) for Teens program will deliver Integrated Treatment for Complex Trauma for Adolescents (ITCT-A) to a population of adolescents aged 12–19, most of whom are either African American or Latino/Latina. The program expects to serve 320 teens during the grant period. Additionally, TIPS for Teens will: 1) increase access to trauma-informed treatment by providing education and professional development services to 42 school-based mental health service providers; and 2) provide information and outreach on trauma and trauma-informed responses to 670 parents, students, staff, and community-based organizations.

Another Choice, Another Chance will provide outpatient Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TF-CBT) to children and youth aged 3–18 from diverse ethnic backgrounds, who live at or below the poverty level, and who have been victims of sexual exploitation and abuse. The center will provide 12–20 sessions of individual, group, and/or family treatment services to 200 children/youth and their parents or other primary caregivers.

The Urban Native Center for Life Empowerment II (UNCLE II) will provide community-based, culturally appropriate, trauma-informed, and trauma-focused services for American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) children, youth, and families. The program will consist of: 1) direct trauma treatment services and community education about trauma; 2) training of key stakeholders from the child welfare, juvenile justice, educational, behavioral, and public health systems, as well as from nonprofit community-based agencies servicing AIAN children and their families; and 3) cultural activities to build resiliency. UNCLE II will also promote system-level policy changes to trauma-informed services.