Exposure to traumatic events happens at an alarming rate for children and adolescents in the United States. If left unaddressed, these youth have a high risk of growing up with additional health and mental health problems. In this article the authors review three key aspects of helping youth heal from the symptoms of experiencing a traumatic event; (1) recommended guidelines, (2) specific treatments, and (3) the Trauma-Informed Care Framework. Eleven recommendations from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry are discussed as they relate to effective practices in the treatment of trauma in children and adolescents. Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy and child-parent psychotherapy are also explored as the two specific interventions that have the most empirical support for treatment in children and adolescents. Finally, the tenets of a Trauma-Informed Care Framework are presented along with a review of how well these have been applied in youth serving organizations.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.