New York

Creating Trauma-Focused Care in Juvenile Secure Detention will establish trauma-informed mental health screening in the New York City (NYC) secure juvenile detention centers. The program will establish groups trained in an evidence-based skills practice to help reduce trauma-related problems, and will build collaborative partnerships in the child-serving systems associated with juvenile detention to increase trauma responsiveness in those systems. Goals include: 1) creating and evaluating a systematic trauma-informed mental health screening process, and developing and disseminating a product through the Network; 2) adapting and evaluating the Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation-Adolescents (STAIR-A) skill-building group protocol for use in juvenile detention centers by juvenile detention center staff and mental health clinicians; 3) providing and evaluating an approach for the secure juvenile detention centers that includes an awareness of trauma, and a common language and methodology for handling trauma-related emotional and behavioral issues; and 4) building a collaborative partnership among major youth-serving systems that interact directly with NYC juvenile detention centers (e.g., probation, family courts, foster care agencies providing nonsecure detention), and extending trauma knowledge and trauma-informed care into those systems. During the four- year project, 7,200 unduplicated residents will be screened and 4,320 will participate in STAIR-A groups.

The Institute for Adolescent Trauma Training and Treatment at the School of Social Work will: 1) create a skilled trauma-focused workforce of social work and other mental health professionals on Long Island and in parts of New York City; 2) support delivery of evidence-based treatments to adolescents across Long Island, with an emphasis on youth in residential settings; and 3) build on existing collaborations with local and national agencies, and with service systems, to improve the quality of trauma-informed services by multidisciplinary providers (e.g., child welfare, probation). During the four years of the project, the institute will provide training on assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of child and adolescent trauma to more than 1,300 social work students and multidisciplinary providers across the region, extending the scope of evidence-based and trauma-informed service delivery to more than 4,000 adolescents.

The School-Based Treatment and Services Adaptation (TSA) Center will be created by Lutheran Family Health Centers (LFHC), in collaboration with the New York City Department of Education in southwest Brooklyn, to further develop and validate trauma-informed treatments and services that will serve culturally diverse children and youth, and their families. The goals are to: 1) form a community coalition focused on building capacity to address child and family trauma, particularly within the context of larger child-serving systems including day care, preschools, schools, youth services, and child welfare; 2) build up community and stakeholder consensus and work collaboratively with TSA Centers and the NCCTS; 3) further culturally modify the TEMAS Narrative Therapy-Trauma (TNT-T); 4) develop an outreach component, which will include workshops to train parents, school and community agency personnel, and primary care providers; 5) train mental health staff and pediatric staff throughout the LFHC’s nine primary care centers and 15 school-based health centers; 6) identify, screen, and refer children and adolescents at high risk for traumatic stress; 7) train mental health staff at the Sunset Terrace Mental Health Center and Healthy Connections program; and 8) export training on the implementation of culturally competent, evidence-based TNT-T modalities.
 

The Center for Child Traumatic Stress (CCTS) will adapt, disseminate, implement, and sustain culturally competent, trauma-focused, evidence-based treatment services for children at multiple points in the posttraumatic trajectory. A range of treatments will be provided at Safe Horizon's diverse child service settings throughout New York City including acute and early interventions, and longer-term treatments for more chronic PTSD. During the four years of this project, CCTS expects to serve approximately 28,200 youth.

The Promoting Emotional Adjustment in Children Exposed to Violence (PEACE) project at the Mount Hope Family Center will enhance the availability of evidence-based, trauma-treatment services to children and families exposed to violence—especially to intimate partner violence (IPV). Populations served will include children in the child welfare system, and children in military families who have high rates of IPV and child maltreatment. Approximately 720 children and parents will receive evidence-based trauma treatment during the course of the project. Three interventions will be used: Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Alternatives for Families-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (AF-CBT), and Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP). The program will also provide training on the effects of trauma on children and families, and will disseminate best practices in implementation of evidence-based interventions locally and nationally.