What's New

Check here for the Network's most recent products, website updates, and initiatives. Items are listed in the order they were released, with the newest items listed first.

Page Contents:

April - June 2013

NCTSN resources

Birth Parents with Trauma Histories and the Child Welfare System
This factsheet series from the Birth Parent Subcommittee of the Child Welfare Committee highlights the importance of understanding the serious consequences that trauma histories can have for birth parents and the subsequent potential impact on their parenting.

For Parents [1] (2012) (PDF) [2]
For Child Welfare Staff [3] (2011) (PDF) [2]
For Judges and Attorneys [4](2011) (PDF) [2]
For Mental Health Professionals [5](2012) (PDF) [2]
For Resource Parents [6] (2011) (PDF) [2]
For Court-Based Child Advocates and Guardians ad Litem [7] (2013)

Children and Domestic Violence Fact Sheet Series (2013) [8] (PDF) The NCTSN Domestic Violence Collaborative Group announces a new series of fact sheets created for parents whose children have been affected by domestic violence. The set of 10 fact sheets gets to the heart of the experiences and needs of these children and families, and offers education in support of their resilience and recovery.

How Does Domestic Violence Affect Children? (2013 [9]) (PDF)
Celebrating Your Child's Strengths (2013) [10] (PDF)
Before You Talk to Your Children: How Your Feelings Matter (2013) [11] (PDF)
Listening and Talking to Your Children About Domestic Violence (2013) [12] (PDF)
The Importance of Playing with Your Children (2013) [13] (PDF)
Keeping Your Children Safe and Responding to Their Fears (2013) [14] (PDF)
Managing Challenging Behavior of Children Living with Domestic Violence (2013) [15] (PDF)
Where to Turn if You Are Worried About Your Children (2013) [16] (PDF)
Helping You Child Navigate a Relationship with the Abusive Parent (2013) [17] (PDF)
A Parent's Self-Care and Self-Reflection (2013) [18] (PDF)

Resources in Response to the Bombings

NCTSN eBulletin
Events and resources on child trauma from the Network, and beyond.

May 2013 [24]
April 2013 [25]

[26] Back to Top

January - March 2013

NCTSN resources
Commmunity Violence:
Community Violence: Reactions and Actions in Dangerous Times [27]
Highlights community violence issues, i.e. what it is, how it can affect daily lives, and what to do for support.
Violent Places, Dangerous Times: Does Community Violence Control Your Life? [28]
A checklist that youth can use to assess whether they experience community violence.

Core Curriculum on Childhood Trauma [29]
The Core Curriculum on Childhood Trauma ™ (CCCT) is a tool developed by the NCTSN to promote the development of a national trauma-informed mental health workforce by providing a sound foundational understanding of psychological trauma. The CCCT can be used to train both graduate students and practicing professionals who wish to increase their expertise in psychological trauma, trauma-informed assessment, and intervention.

NCTSN Bench Card for the Trauma-Informed Judge [30]

Psychological First Aid for Schools [31]

Simple Activies for Your Family During the Storm

Testifying in Court about Trauma: How to Prepare [38]
Offers guidance to clinicians called upon to testify as an expert witness for a client’s court case. From understanding a subpoena, confidentially, and the therapist-client privilege to preparing yourself, your client, and his/her caregivers for your court appearance, this fact sheet lays out ethical considerations, describes how to navigate conversations with your consumers, and gives you self-care tips to use for a court appearance.

Think Trauma [39]
This training provides an overview for juvenile justice staff of 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.

Think Trauma is a PowerPoint-based training curriculum including four modules that can be implemented back-to-back in a single all-day training or in four consecutive training sessions over the course of several weeks or even months. Each module takes approximately one to two hours, depending on the size of the trainee group, and whether you elect to implement all of training materials and activities. It contains six case studies of representative youth who’ve been involved with the juvenile justice system

UCLA Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Reaction Index for DSM IV [40]
A new video describing the UCLA PTSD Reaction Index for DSM IV, developed by Alan Steinberg and Robert Pynoos, is available on the NCTSN website. The UCLA OTSD RI is a self-report questionnaire to screen for exposure to traumatic events and assess PTSD symptoms in school-age children and adolescents. The scale assesses the frequency of occurrence of PTSD symptoms during the past month (rated from 0 = none of the time to 4 = most of the time). The items map directly onto DSM IV intrusion, avoidance, and arousal criteria, while two additional items assess associated features (fear of recurrence and trauma-related guilt). Scoring algorithms permit tabulation of UCLA PTSD-RI total score, and B, C, and D subscale scores.

NCTSN eBulletin
Events and resources on child trauma from the Network, and beyond.

[26] Back to Top

October - December 2012

NCTSN website
The 12 Core Concepts for Understanding Traumatic Stress Responses in Children and Families [44]
The Concepts serve as the conceptual foundation of the Core Curriculum on Childhood Trauma and provide a rationale for trauma-informed assessment and intervention. The Concepts cover a broad range of points that practitioners and agencies should consider as they strive to assess, understand, and assist trauma-exposed children, families, and communities in trauma-informed ways.

Psychological First Aid for Schools [31]
PFA-S is an evidence-informed approach for assisting children, adolescents, adults, and families in the aftermath of a school crisis, disaster, or terrorism event.

NCTSN resources
Resources in Response to the Recent Shooting [45]
In response to the tragedy in Connecticut, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network has developed resources to help families and communities. These resources include tip sheets on:

Caring for Kids: What Parents Need to Know about Sexual abuse (SPANISH) [55]
First published in English in 2009, Caring for Kids is a consumer-focused resource kit to support children who are victims of sexual abuse. The toolkit provides parents, caregivers, and adolescents with information and fact sheets on talking to children and youth about body safety and guidance on how to respond when children disclose sexual abuse. The toolkit also gives advice on coping with the shock of intrafamilial abuse and the emotional impact of legal involvement in sexual abuse cases. Caring for Kids, in addition, offers adolescents information on the prevalence of acquaintance rape, tips to help reduce their risk for abuse, and guidance on what to do if they are victims of acquaintance rape including disclosure, medical attention, and professional counseling.

College Students Coping after the Hurricane [56]
A brief fact sheet designed to support students who are recovering from Superstorm Sandy.

IMPACT Newsletter Fall 2012 [57]

NCTSN eBulletin
Events and resources on child trauma from the Network, and beyond.

[26] Back to Top

July - September 2012

NCTSN resources
PFA Mobile™ [61]
Following disasters or emergencies, the PFA Mobile™ app can assist responders who provide Psychological First Aid (PFA) to adults, families, and children. Materials in PFA Mobile™ are adapted from the Psychological First Aid Field Operations Guide (2nd Edition).

Recovery After a Hurricane [62]

Refugee Services Toolkit [29]
This resource is a web-based tool designed to help service system providers understand the experience of refugee children and families, identify the needs associated with their mental health, and ensure that they are connected with the most appropriate available interventions.

Resources in Response to the Recent Shooting [45]
In response to the tragedy in Colorado, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network has developed resources to help families and communities. These resources include tip sheets on:

Summer 2012 Clinicians Not Immune to Impact of Border Violence [63](PDF)
Discusses the cumulative adversities that clinicians face associated with the violence of US/Mexico border regions. Many clinicians who have family in increasingly dangerous regions are coping with growing personal stress and worry about their loved ones. The article briefly examines how the stress and vicarious trauma from working with children and families who have experienced traumatic events begins to take its toll on clinicians. To combat the toll of border violence, supervisors maintain an open-door policy with staff members, encouraging them to discuss difficult cases or personal situations.

What You Should Expect from Treatment: Building Strong Parent-Child Relationships [64] (2012) (PDF)

NCTSN eBulletin
Events and resources on child trauma from the Network, and beyond.

[26] Back to Top