The National Child Traumatic Stress Network: Collaborating to improve the standard of care.

Abstract

Mental health practitioners are often called upon to provide services to children, adolescents, and families in the aftermath of traumatic experiences such as child neglect, sexual or physical abuse, family/domestic violence, sexual assault, interpersonal violence, school and community violence, serious accidental injury, catastrophic medical illness, traumatic bereavement, or mass casualty events, including natural and man-made disasters. The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) was established in 2001 to raise the standard of care and improve access to services for traumatized children, their families, and communities throughout the United States. This article describes the development of the NCTSN, its structure, programs, and many of the products and resources-including online lectures, training programs and videos, and searchable databases of child trauma resources-available through the NCTSN Web site (www.nctsn.org) to assist professionals in providing state-of-the-art assessment, treatment, and services to these children and their families.

Use of the Breakthrough Series Collaborative to Support Broad and Sustained Use of Evidence-Based Trauma Treatment for Children in Community Practice Settings

“…In 2000, the United States Congress established the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), a collaboration of academic and community-based service centers funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to enhance services and access to care for traumatized children and their families (Pynoos et al 2008). 1 Network activities are coordinated by the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress (NCCTS), which is co-located at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Duke University School of Medicine.…”

Beyond Community Violence: Loss and Traumatic Grief in African American Elementary School Children

“…growing interest in the study and treatment of childhood traumatic grief (CTG) (Brown et al 2008;Cohen et al 2004a;Pynoos et al 2008). CTG occurs when a child loses a loved one under what they perceive as traumatic circumstances, develops trauma symptoms, and is unable to complete the normal grieving process (Mannarino and Cohen 2011;Cohen et al 2006).…”

Evaluation of the Dawson College shooting psychological intervention: Moving toward a multimodal extensive plan.

“…Despite the fact that each program has a different and specific emphasis, they share a common foundation: (1) they are based on theories of stress, coping, adaptation, and resilience after exposure to a traumatic event; (2) the programs are applicable and can be implemented in almost any environment (school, community, or other); (3) the programs are adapted to different types of clientele and the different developmental stages of life, even though there are specific indications for children, teenagers, and adults; and (4) the programs are sensitive to different cultural contexts, allowing for flexible and adapted interventions (Pynoos et al, 2008). …”

“…The number of psychological first-aid programs is on the rise and targets specific disasters: disaster-related trauma; complex trauma; exposure to violence; traumatic loss; nonspecific mass trauma; organizational crisis management, and so forth (Jaycox et al, 2006;Hutchins & Wang, 2008 (Vernberg et al, 2008). In Quebec, the 1989 shooting of 22 young women at the École Polytechnique de Montréal prompted the development of a psychosocial approach to public security (Martel & Brunet, 2006).Despite the fact that each program has a different and specific emphasis, they share a common foundation: (1) they are based on theories of stress, coping, adaptation, and resilience after exposure to a traumatic event; (2) the programs are applicable and can be implemented in almost any environment (school, community, or other); (3) the programs are adapted to different types of clientele and the different developmental stages of life, even though there are specific indications for children, teenagers, and adults; and (4) the programs are sensitive to different cultural contexts, allowing for flexible and adapted interventions (Pynoos et al, 2008). …”