Dr Jessica Griffen receives a grant to fund the UMMS Child Trauma Training Center
October 03, 2012
The aim of the project, funded by the SAMHSA National Child Traumatic Stress Network, is to improve identification of trauma, and increase trauma sensitive care and access to evidence based trauma treatment for at risk and underserved populations in Central and Western Massachusetts, including court involved children and military families. The UMMS Child Trauma Training Center(CTTC) has the following goals:
1)Provide training to develop, enhance, and strengthen the abilities of front-line child-serving professionals within primary care, the schools, the police, and the courts to identify, screen and/or assess for childhood trauma, implement trauma informed practices, and provide appropriate referrals to evidence based trauma treatment
2)Create a centralized referral system that is not linked to any one provider agency, but includes a network of agencies with known training in evidence based trauma treatment to increase access, decrease wait-times and provide a structure to follow up with referrals and problem solve barriers so that children are less likely to “fall through the cracks.”
3)Provide basic and advanced training to provider agencies in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), and establish a network that builds on current regional evidence-based practice initiatives to create a sustainable capacity for evidence-based trauma interventions that meet the specific needs of court involved and military families in Central and Western Massachusetts (Worcester and Hampden counties).
The CTTC will work with area schools, pediatricians, and courts to improve trauma identification and treatment, and work with provider agencies to improve access to the best trauma care for identified children. This four-year project will also work with developers of one of the most widely used trauma treatments to implement and adapt treatment to the needs of court involved youth who face special challenges in receiving appropriate care. These treatment adaptations will be implemented and evaluated for effectiveness in two clinics in Central and Western Massachusetts. The CTTC will provide ongoing, intensive consultation (e.g., face to face meetings and substantial phone/video support) in child maltreatment and trauma to child trauma treatment providers as well as consultation and support to physicians, courts, police, schools and other child-serving professionals.