Children's Mental Health Awareness Day (May 9, 2013) and National Mental Health Awareness Month (May 2013)

As a part of Mental Health Awareness Month, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) invites you to join us in celebrating the 7th annual Children's Mental Health Awareness Day on May 9, 2012. Sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a division of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Children's Mental Health Awareness Day promotes positive youth development, resiliency, and recovery, along with the transformation of mental health service delivery for youth, adolescents, and their families. This year's observance focuses on young adults and early childhood trauma.

We hope that you will help us further NCTSN’s mission—"to raise the standard of care and improve access to services for traumatized children, their families, and communities throughout the United States"—through your participation in Children's Mental Health Awareness Day.

Listed below are helpful resources related to children's mental health designed for child welfare/medical/mental health professionals; educators; juvenile justice professionals; military families, parents and caregivers, and policy makers.

On May 7, 2013 Anthony Mannarino, from the NCTSN Center Allegheny General Hospital-Singer Research Institute, Center for Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents, presented at the Legislative Briefing in honor of National Children's Mental Health Awareness Week. The briefing focuses on effective services and supports for Youth and Young Adults and the value and importance of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA) funded grant programs. In addition to the resources listed below, a copy of selected NCTSN resources on young adults and adolescents used at the briefing is available [1].

Page Contents

• Featured NCTSN Resources
• For Child Welfare/Medical/Mental Health Professionals
• For Educators
• For Juvenile Justice Professionals
• For Military Families
• For Parents and Caregivers
• For Policy Makers
• For Youth
• Preparing for National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day

Featured NCTSN Resources

• Age-Related Reactions to a Traumatic Event [2](n.d.) (PDF) [3]
  Describes some ways that young children, older children, and adolescents react to a traumatic event. Offers suggestions to parents and caregivers on how they can help and support their children through the emotional and physical challenges they face after exposure to a traumatic event.
• Early Childhood Trauma [4](2010) (PDF) [3]
  Describes the unique scope of early childhood (aged 0–6) trauma. Topics include symptoms and behavior exhibited in early childhood trauma, resilience factors, and treatments. Listings of resources are provided for parents and caregivers, mental health/child welfare/early education/medical professionals, family court judges and staff, early educators, and childcare providers.
•  Understanding Child Traumatic Stress [5] (2005) (PDF) [3]
     >En Español: Entendamos el estrés traumático infantil [6](PDF)
  Comprehensive explanation of the causes, nature, and treatment of child traumatic stress. The online version features sidebars and links to more information on types of child traumatic stress.
• Understanding Traumatic Stress in Adolescents [5] (2007) (PDF) [3]
  A fact sheet for providers who treat teens with emotional and substance abuse issues. Explains problems that adolescents often experience after exposure to trauma. Presents a developmental and contextual perspective on youth trauma, with special attention to the connections among trauma exposure, traumatic stress, and the development of substance abuse problems. 
  [7]

Back to Top

For Child Welfare/Medical/Mental Health Professionals

National Center for Child Traumatic Stress

• Building Community Resilience for Children and Families [8] (2007) (PDF) [3]
  A guidebook on ways to help communities improve their capacity to take meaningful and effective actions before disasters (natural and manmade) and acts of terrorism occur. Offers advice on how to respond effectively, cope, recover, and reestablish stability after such events.
• Child Welfare Trauma Training Toolkit [9] (2008) (PDF) [3]
  Provides basic knowledge about working with children who are in the child welfare system and who have experienced traumatic stress, and teaches associated skills and values. Explains how to support children's safety, permanency, and well-being—using case analysis and corresponding interventions tailored for the children and their biological and resource (foster) families.
• Complex Trauma in Children and Adolescents [10](2003) (PDF) [3]
  Provides an overview of complex trauma in children and adolescents. Cost, impact, assessment and treatment of complex trauma are addressed in the brochure.
• NCTSN Crossover Youth and Trauma-Informed Practice Speaker Series [11]
  The National Center for Child Traumatic Stress and the Center for Juvenile Reform presents a three-part webinar on crossover youth, youth who are known to move between the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.
• The Role of Trauma among Families Struggling with Substance Abuse Speaker [12]
  The NCTSN Trauma and Substance Abuse Committee provided 2 webinars, one focused on trauma and caregiver substance use, and the other focused on trauma and prenatal substance use exposure.  
• NCTSN Screening and Assessment in the Juvenile Justice System Speaker Series [13]
  This series describes the utility of screening and assessment for trauma in juvenile justice settings, specific instruments that are used or can be used in juvenile justice settings, how to best utilize data derived from screening and assessment, and recommendations for agencies and practitioners interested in implementing trauma-informed screening and assessment.  
• Service Systems Brief (Vol. 1, No. 1): Creating Trauma-Informed Child-Serving-Systems [14] (2007) (PDF)
  Explains why it is important for child-serving systems (e.g., health, mental health, education, child welfare, first responders, criminal justice) to become more trauma-informed, to improve outcomes for children, and to maintain excellent standards of care. Encourages collaboration among child-serving systems through increasing public awareness and knowledge; building strategic partnerships with national organizations; and providing trauma-focused education and skill-building for frontline staff, clinicians, and administrators.
• Understanding the Links Between Adolescent Trauma and Substance Abuse: A Toolkit for Providers [15] (2nd Edition) (2008) (PDF) [3]
  This toolkit explores the complex connections between traumatic stress and substance abuse, and provides guidelines for identifying, engaging, and treating adolescents.

Back to Top

For Educators

National Center for Child Traumatic Stress

• Back to School Resources for School Personnel [16] (2012) (PDF) [3]
  Resources highlight issues related to trauma, explain how trauma can affect children   and adolescents, and help schools support students and families who have been impacted by trauma.
• Child Trauma Toolkit for Educators [17](2008) (PDF) [3]
  Provides school administrators, teachers, staff, and concerned parents with basic information about working with traumatized children in the school system. Additional multimedia resources on related to this toolkit are available in the NCTSN Learning Center for Child and Adolescent Trauma.
• Coping in Hard Times: Fact Sheet for School Staff [18] (2011) (PDF) [3] 
  Discusses how difficult financial circumstances and economic hardships experienced by school personnel, students’ families, and students can negatively affect school staff. Offers practical ways to cope and help others cope by improving a sense of safety, calming, self- and community efficacy, connectedness, and hope.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children [19]

• I Am Safe and Secure: Promoting Resilience in Young Children [20]
  Article provides important information about resilience in young children and how adults can help to promote it.

Back to Top

For Juvenile Justice Professionals

National Center for Child Traumatic Stress

• Helping Traumatized Children: Tips for Judges [21](2009) (PDF) [3]
  A fact sheet on the effects of trauma in children and adolescents, assessing the effects of trauma, and on choosing appropriate service providers.
• NCTSN Bench Card for the Trauma Informed Judge [22] (2013) (PDF) [3]
  Provides judges with questions to help identify children who need or could benefit from trauma-informed services from a mental health professional.
• NCTSN Bench Card for Court-Ordered Trauma-Informed Mental Health Evaluation of Child: Sample Addendum [22] (2013) (PDF) [3]
  Provides judges with useful questions and guidelines to help them make decisions based on the emerging scientific findings in the traumatic stress field.
• Ten Things Every Juvenile Court Judge Should Know About Trauma and Delinquency [23] (2010) (PDF) [3]  
  A technical assistance bulletin highlighting crucial facts that juvenile court judges should know so that they can best meet the needs of traumatized children who come into their system. A collaboration between the NCTSN and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges [24], this publication was funded by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention [25].
• Think Trauma: A Training for Staff in Juvenile Justice Residential Settings [26] (2013) (PDF) [3]
  This training provides an overview for juvenile justice staff on how to work towards creating a trauma-informed juvenile justice residential setting. Creating a trauma-informed setting is a process that requires not only knowledge acquisition and behavioral modification, but also cultural and organizational paradigm shifts, and ultimately policy and procedural change at every level of the facility.

Back to Top

For Military Families

National Center for Child Traumatic Stress

• Traumatic Grief in Military Children: Information for Educators [27] (2008) (PDF) [3]
  A brochure that provides culturally competent materials for helping educators understand how they can better serve military children suffering from traumatic grief.
• Traumatic Grief in Military Children: Information for Families [28] (2008) (PDF) [3]
  A brochure that provides guidance for families with children who have lost a loved one in the military to help the families better understand and cope with their children’s reactions and behaviors.
• Traumatic Grief in Military Children: Information for Medical Providers [29] (2008) (PDF) [3]
  A brochure that provides culturally competent materials for medical professionals on how to better serve military children who are experiencing traumatic grief.

Back to Top

For Parents and Caregivers

National Center for Child Traumatic Stress

• Caring for Children Who Have Experienced Trauma: A Workshop for Resource Parents [30] (2010) (PDF) [3]
  A training curriculum designed to be taught by a mental health professional, with resource (foster) parents as cofacilitators. Offers these parents practical tools they can use to help their children move forward from their traumatic pasts, to recognize and reduce the impact of their children’s traumas on themselves, and to seek useful support from others.
• Coping in Hard Times: Fact Sheet for Parents [31] (2011) (PDF) [3]
  Discusses how difficult financial circumstances and economic hardships can negatively affect families. Offers practical ways to cope by improving a sense of safety, calming, self- and community efficacy, connectedness, and hope.
• Trauma and Your Family [32] (2011) (PDF) [3]
  This fact sheet defines trauma and the symptoms of traumatic stress, shows how trauma can impact a family, and let’s families know that—if a trauma occurs within the family—they can learn to cope with and overcome traumatic stress.
•  Understanding Child Traumatic Stress: A Guide for Parents [33] (2005) (PDF) [3]
     >En Español: Entendamos el estrés traumático infantil: Una guia para padres [34] (PDF)
  A fact sheet describing signs and symptoms that children may exhibit after being exposed to traumatic events. Offers suggestions on how parents can help their children recover.
• What You Should Expect from Treatment: Building Strong Parent-Child Relationships [35] (2012) (PDF) [3]
  Fact sheet provides parents and caregivers with tips on how to find a provider who will provide service to the entire family.

Back to Top

For Policy Makers

National Center for Child Traumatic Stress

• Child Traumatic Stress: What Every Policymaker Should Know [36] (2008) (PDF) [3]
  Informs policy makers about the scope and impact of childhood trauma offers effective solutions that can be implemented with the support of informed public policy; includes additional resources.
• The Need for an Integrated System of Care for Youth with Traumatic Stress & Substance Use Disorders [37] (2012) (PDF) [3]
  This policy brief discusses the overwhelming evidence documenting the range and severity of problems experienced by adolescents with co-occurring traumatic stress and substance use, and recommends addressing these problems through a youth-oriented coordinated treatment system of care that would require interagency collaboration, family and youth involvement, cultural competence, and accountability.
   

Back to Top

For Youth

National Center for Child Traumatic Stress

• Community Violence: Reactions and Actions in Dangerous Times [38] (2013) (PDF) [3]
  This fact sheet, written for youth addresses community violence. The fact sheet helps youth understand community violence doesn’t have to dominate their lives if they understand their reactions to it, how to keep themselves safe, and how to make positive choices in dangerous times.
• Coping in Hard Times: Fact Sheet for Youth [39](2011) (PDF) [3]
  Designed for students in high school and college to help them understand how their families’ and their own economic hardships may affect them. Offers practical ways to cope by improving a sense of safety, calming, self- and community efficacy, connectedness, and hope.
• Staying Safe While Staying Connected: Facts and Tips for Teens [40] (2011) (PDF) [3]
  Identifies some of the dangers of connecting via technology—including sexting—and offers tips for staying safe and protecting teens’ identity.
• Using Drugs to Deal with Stress and Trauma: A Reality Check for Teens [41] (2008) (PDF) [3]
     >El Uso de Drogas Para Manejar el Estrés y el Trauma: Una Dosis de Realidad para los Jóvenes [42] (2008) (PDF)
  This brochure helps teens and young adults understand the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse, helps them recognize signs that they are abusing drugs, and provides suggestions for seeking help.
• Violent Places, Dangerous Times: Does Community Violence Control Your Life [43] (2013) (PDF) [3]
  Violence in neighborhoods and communities affects youth all across America.  This fact sheet, designed for youth, provides a list of questions youth can ask themselves about violence in their neighborhoods.

American Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists [44]

• Tips to Promote Social-Emotional Health Among Teens [45]
  This tip sheet is designed for young adults and family members of young adults to help promote social-emotional well-being.

StrengthofUs [46]
An online community developed by NAMI and young adults. It's designed to inspire young adults impacted by mental health issues to think positive, stay strong and achieve their goals through peer support and resource sharing. Resources available for On our Own, Tacking Charge, Campus Life, Relationship, Educate Yourself, Friends and Family, Express Yourself.
 

Back to Top

Preparing for National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [47](SAMHSA)

• National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day [48]
  Provides links to planning materials and resources that communities and organizations can use to celebrate Children's Mental Health Awareness Day. Information is available in English and Spanish.

 GAGG

Back to Top