Volunteers of America, Dakotas, Youth and Trauma Center provides and increases access to effective trauma-focused treatment and services for children and adolescents ages 4-17 and their families who have been impacted by traumatic events, with a focus on those who have experienced multiple Adverse Childhood Experiences and/or COVID-related trauma including American Indian and other populations impacted by health disparities. The project serves the Sioux Falls area metro and surrounding counties. VOAD provides and increases access to effective trauma-focused treatment and services by: training therapists in evidence-based, trauma-focused, culturally responsive interventions; working with referral sources to ensure children, adolescents and their families who have experienced trauma are connected with services; providing free, low-barrier initial trauma screenings; screening and assessing children and adolescents for trauma using Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire, the PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version, the Pediatric Symptoms Checklist and the Child and Adolescent Trauma Screen; providing evidence-based trauma treatment and services using Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy, and Honoring Children Mending the Circle; and collaborating with child and family-serving agencies to provide trauma-focused training. Services are delivered in outpatient and residential settings and via telehealth.
Volunteers of America Dakotas, Youth and Family Trauma Center
Volunteers of Southeast Louisiana
Volunteers of America is one of the nation’s oldest and largest comprehensive human services organizations with 16,000 paid professionals, dedicated to helping those in need rebuild their lives and reach their full potential. Founded in 1896, the faith-based nonprofit has affiliates in over 400 communities in 46 states, the District of Columbia, and serves more than 1.5 million people a year. For 127 years, Volunteers of America Southeast Louisiana has empowered and uplifted individuals including veterans, at-risk youth, low-income seniors, men and women returning home after incarceration, homeless individuals and families, persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities, families in need of affordable housing, and those recovering from addictions. Our work touches the mind, body, heart – and ultimately the spirit – of those we serve, integrating our deep compassion with highly effective programs and services. Volunteers of America Southeast Louisiana’s children and family program provides services for youth with incarcerated parents, youth involved with the justice system, youth with behavioral health challenges and youth exposed to crime. Our NCSTI-Category III (C.A.N.- CARE, ADVOCATE, NURTURE) program focuses on increasing the community’s awareness about youths’ exposure and impact of traumas; such as domestic abuse, violent crimes, and substance abuse to youth and adolescents. The services delivered will be based on evidence based practices for mental health treatment, in/and outpatient services, day treatment, and community outreach services. Screenings through PHQ-9 and assessments TESI-C and TESI-PR-R to develop treatment, which will include TF-CBT. TF-CBT activities are designed for home based services and in residential facilities.
Wade, Shelby
Walker, Brittney
I am a licensed independent clinical social worker (LICSW) working in Massachusetts, where I focus my clinical work on trauma-informed, attachment-focused and dyadic treatment with children 0-6yo and their families. I have been rostered in Child Parent Psychotherapy as of 2019 and have been trained in Trauma Systems Therapy, the ARC GROW curriculum, and the Nurturing Program for Families in Substance Abuse Treatment and Recovery. Most recently I have been employed as a Child Clinician with Project BRIGHT (Building Resilience through Intervention: Growing Healthier Together), a grant-funded collaboration among the Institute for Health and Recovery, Stanley Street Treatment and Resources, and Boston University School of Social Work. I am also veryinvolved in the NCTSN Parent and Caregiver Trauma and Healing group and our work around social media campaigns and resource creation and dissemination.
Walsh, Cambria LCSW
My career has been focused on the areas of secondary traumatic stress, trauma-informed systems, child trauma treatment, child abuse, child welfare and domestic violence. I have past experience as a Project Director of several state and national initiatives, including a Cat II center of the NCTSN focused on Child Welfare. I began my career as a mental health therapist working with traumatized children and their families. I am one of the developers of the Child Welfare Trauma Training Toolkit (3rd Edition) released in April 2020. I have created numerous resources, curricula and consulting models related to trauma-informed systems. I have knowledge of implementation science and adult learning and years of experience providing training and technical assistance to child serving organizations and child welfare systems on trauma-informed change and secondary traumatic stress. I am a founding member of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Consortium and an associate with TEND Academy.
Wanda Vargas-Haskins
Wanda Vargas-Haskins, PhD, is currently the senior psychologist at New York Presbyterian’s Family PEACE Trauma Treatment Center. She dedicates herself to improving the safety and well-being of children and caregivers who have been exposed to trauma. Wanda was born in the Dominican Republic and immigrated to the United States at the young age of 3, where she was raised in the community of Washington Heights. She earned her PhD in the combined Clinical and School Psychology program at Hofstra University where she developed an interest in maternal stress and mother-child dyads. Her career began in St. Barnabas Hospital’s Safe Start program, testing the effectiveness of using Child-Parent Psychotherapy as a treatment for young children exposed to violence. In 2011, she became a clinician at New York Presbyterian Hospital’s Family PEACE Trauma Treatment Center to continue working with the underserved population of Latino/a/x young children and their parents exposed to trauma in Washington Heights and Inwood. Over the years, Wanda’s passion for working with families has grown into a dedication and commitment to affect change both directly and on a systemic level. Through her leadership at Family PEACE, she has been working on creating a trauma-informed approach to identifying at-risk young children and developing programming that is client-centered and culturally attuned to the needs of the community. She dreams of one day being able to break the intergenerational transmission of trauma for our nation’s children.
Washington State University
Washington State University Child and Family Research Unit, CLEAR Trauma Center
The Child and Family Research Unit promotes health and wellness for underserved and at-risk populations through research, education, and outreach. Collaborative Learning for Educational Achievement and Resilience (CLEAR) partners with school systems to build and sustain trauma-informed practices in Education through staff professional development, coaching and support.
Wayside Youth & Family Support Network Multi Service Center
Wayside Youth & Family Support Network's (Wayside) Navigating to Emotional Wellness (NEW) Project aims to build upon our extensive experience serving marginalized children, young adults, and their families with behavioral health conditions, child welfare involvement, and high-risk environments since 1977. The overall goal of this NCTSN Category III project is to improve access to and engagement in evidence-based trauma-focused prevention and treatment services to children and families living with trauma experiences. The primary populations of focus for the NEW Project are youth and young adults ages 6-22, and their families, residing in Watertown and Waltham, Massachusetts with a focus on those who most experience health disparities and represent racial/ethnic minorities (African American, Armenian, Haitian, Hispanic/Latino), are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBTQ), or non-binary, immigrants, under-insured, and/or live in low-income neighborhoods.
Webb, Heather, MSW, LCSW
Provision of evidence-based trauma assessment and treatment with a focus on child sexual abuse, children in foster care, and complex trauma. Co-principal investigator of study focusing on treating parent interpersonal childhood trauma with Cognitive Processing Therapy in an effort to improve the rate of children in foster care in a state that has the highest rate of substantiated abuse and neglect in the county.