Date: April 13, 2026
  Author: Trauma Systems Therapy Training Center
 Time: 5 minute read

The Center for Child Welfare Practice Innovation (CCWPI) and the Trauma Systems Therapy Training Center (TSTTC) at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine are home to the treatment model Trauma Systems Therapy (TST), and its accompanying Never Look Away Trauma Training Program© (NLA-TTP). TST has been disseminated to agencies across the child services system (e.g., mental health, child welfare, schools, residential care, refugee care) in 17 states and 4 countries, and has been adapted for use in different child service systems and for different trauma types. Its specific adaptation for refugees, TST-R, is based at the Trauma and Community Resilience Center at Boston Children’s Hospital. Since 2004, our programs have been implemented to help many thousands of traumatized children and families, no matter the level of complexity of their clinical problems or level of risk involved (e.g., self-destructive or violent behavior, running away, ongoing maltreatment).

Never Look Away

TST and NLA-TTP are grounded in a core value of trauma-informed care we call “Never Look Away.” Never Look Away is the imperative to provide care that diligently focuses on understanding all factors contributing to the problems that require intervention and to engage all those who have been determined to play a significant role in relation to these factors (e.g., the child, parents, foster parents, teachers), while avoiding the focus on the child as the (near-exclusive) source of the problem requiring intervention.

This imperative is based on the understanding that clinical problems encountered in trauma-informed care primarily concern a child’s difficulty regulating their emotional and behavioral states (e.g., flashbacks, dissociation, rage, aggression, self-destruction, substance use) in specific contexts when they are reminded (consciously or unconsciously) of past traumatic events. Such contexts can often involve adult communications or behaviors that may, even in subtle ways, evoke the child’s traumatic experience. When clinical assessment does not sufficiently focus on how contextual factors may contribute to the child’s dysregulation, the dysregulation will be understood as a deficiency or disorder within the child, overlooking others' contributions.  Intervention will then primarily aim to address the child’s deficiencies or disorders, without addressing the contributions from others.

Without addressing others' contributions, the child’s dysregulation will persist or worsen. Further, the child will be left to believe that those around them, including professionals, view them as the sole source of the problem requiring intervention. The fact that many traumatized children are assigned multiple psychiatric diagnoses and are treated with a multitude of psychotropic medications are consequences of this problem. Care that overlooks these contextual contributors turns its attention away from the child’s needs. That is why we call our approach "Never Look Away."

Trauma Systems Therapy

 TST is a unique clinical and organizational model for children with traumatic stress and their families, guided by the Never Look Away imperative. Specifically, this model conceptualizes a "trauma system" that is comprised of two main elements: (1) a traumatized child who has difficulty regulating their emotional and behavioral states in specific, definable contexts, and (2) a social environment that is not able to sufficiently help the child regulate in these contexts.

The essence of TST intervention is to help the child gain control over emotions and behavior by enhancing their emotional regulation skills in contexts that trigger dysregulation, and by (at least initially in treatment) diminishing the child’s exposure to stimuli that have been determined to repeatedly trigger dysregulation. A key component of TST is engaging adults around the child in building the child’s emotional regulation skills and reducing the child's exposure to signals that evoke dysregulation. TST also includes processes for determining whether the child’s reactions to their environment may be in response to objective threats, including maltreatment.  In such unfortunate circumstances, TST employs a dedicated advocacy approach to be implemented as a matter of clinical priority.

The Never Look Away Trauma Training Program (NLA-TTP)

Anchored in the core concepts of TST, NLA-TTP is a unique six-session, case-based trauma training program based on an animated video series that provides child service professionals and trainees with practical guidance on topics such as assessment, intervention strategies, family engagement, and risk management, even for the most challenging cases. NLA-TTP asks participants to consider: (1) how to define the main problems bringing traumatized children and their families to care, (2) how assessment can be conducted to discover personalized, practical and effective intervention strategies, (3) how even the hardest to engage children and families can be engaged in care, (4) how safety can be established and maintained while working with children who are at risk of being harmed or harming others, and (5) how practitioners can take care of themselves while facing the challenges that caring for traumatized children and their families often entails.

We also offer an NLA-TTP train-the-trainer program that enables qualified professionals to use NLA-TTP materials to deliver their own training. In addition, NLA-TTP has been adapted for resource parents and parents both within and outside of the child welfare system. 

Announcing the next NLA-TTP Training!

The TSTTC is hosting its next NLA-TTP training in May. Training runs for six weeks, from May 8th to June 12th, with participants joining a two-hour Zoom call every Friday. These calls, held weekly from 3 to 5 PM EST, consist of animated videos, live training by faculty experts, and guided group discussion. Participants will be encouraged to apply NLA-TTP principles and practices to their own cases. In collaboration with the NYU Silver School of Social Work, 11 Continuing Education (CE) credits are available to eligible professionals. 

For more information about the TSTTC, TST, NLA-TTP, or our upcoming training, please contact katherine.barral@nyulangone.org [2].