CTAC Wins Federal Grant to Use Science to Enhance Services

NCTSN Welcomes the Center for the Study on the Violence Against Children to Child Trauma Network. The University of Kentucky Center for the Study on the Violence Against Children (CSVAC) has won a competitive federal grant to join a national network of child trauma centers that provide services and support to children and families who are exposed to a wide range of traumatic experiences including physical and sexual abuse, domestic, school and community violence, natural disasters and terrorism, and life-threatening injury and illness.

With the four-year grant, CSVAC becomes a member of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), whose mission is to improve the quality, effectiveness and availability of services for children and families who experience traumatic events.

With this new funding, CSVAC will establish the Child and Adolescent Trauma Treatment and Training Institute (CATTTI) which will provide treatment to child victims of trauma using three specific evidenced-based treatments (Parent Child Interaction Therapy, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Abuse-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy). Through a collaborative approach, CATTTI will also train partners in multiple regions across the state of Kentucky in providing these interventions to children in need using a “train the trainer” approach. Research will be conducted that will advance our understanding of the impact of trauma on the children in our state and the implementation of these services.

“We are honored that CSVAC was chosen as one of the select group of organizations to participate in this national endeavor," said Ginny Sprang, Ph.D., Principal Investigator for the project, Director of CSVAC, and nationally recognized expert in trauma. "This grant will provide us with opportunities to adapt and test best practice approaches to treating traumatic stress in children exposed to violence.”

“We are very excited about the opportunities this grant and involvement in the NCTSN will provide to enhancing the access of Kentucky’s children to effective trauma-related interventions,” said Heather Risk, Psy.D., Project Director of CATTTI.

The NCTSN grants are funded through the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Department of Health and Human Services. Congress created the National Child Traumatic Stress Network in 2000 in response to the growing need of children exposed to trauma in the United States. Soon after its launch, the NCTSN mobilized to respond to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Since then, NCTSN members have responded to numerous traumatic events, including Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the Virginia Tech shootings.

Combining knowledge of child development, expertise in child traumatic stress, and attention to cultural perspectives, the NCTSN supports the development and broad adoption of evidenced-based and trauma-informed treatments. The NCTSN is a collaboration of more than 70 academic, clinical and community service centers, including the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute and Duke University Medical Center, which co-direct the Network through the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress.

“With each new cohort of Network members, we expand the knowledge base of this relatively new field,” said Robert Pynoos, M.D., co-director of the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress for UCLA. “Children who experience trauma need all of us to work to improve care and increase access.”

NCTSN member centers help children and adolescents exposed to all forms of trauma. National surveys suggest that by their 16th birthday, 25 percent of American children are exposed to at least one significant traumatic experience.

“The local organizations that comprise the NCTSN are our strength,” noted John Fairbank, Ph.D., co-director of the National Center for Traumatic Stress for Duke University Medical Center. “We are very pleased to be moving forward together to the benefit of children and families across America.”