Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration

CMHS Consumer Affairs E-News
September 20, 2007, Vol. 07-146

SAMHSA Awards $28 Million to Help Children and Adolescents Suffering from Trauma

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) today announced it is awarding 15 grants totaling almost $28 million over four years to organizations that help children and adolescents deal with traumatic experiences. The grants are part of the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative (NCTSI) which is dedicated to addressing child trauma issues by creating a national, cooperative network of organizations that can effectively deal with this problem. These grants will strengthen the nation's capacity to provide help to children of all ages who experience traumatic events, such as interpersonal violence, natural disasters, or acts of terrorism," said Terry Cline, Ph.D., SAMHSA administrator.

One category of grants provided by the NCTSI program is Treatment and Service Adaptation (TSA) Center grants. These centers are designed to provide national expertise and develop interventions for specific types of traumatic events, population groups and mental health service systems. They also support the adaptation of specialized treatment and service approaches for communities across the country.

These grants were awarded to address the following five priority areas: treating children who have experienced medical trauma, such as chronic, severe, or painful medical conditions or invasive or painful medical procedures; interventions for traumatic experiences of refugee children and their families, such as exposure to war, terrorism, kidnappings, political oppression and forced displacement; family-centered treatment approaches for trauma, such as services to increase supportive interactions by family members with children and adolescents who have experienced traumatic events; trauma treatment and services in child protective service settings, including family courts, child protective service investigative agencies, and Children's Advocacy Centers; and trauma treatment and services for American Indian/Alaska Native populations. Each grant recipient will receive up to $600,000 per year for up to four years. Continuation of these grants is subject to the availability of funds as well as the progress achieved by the grantees. Grants were awarded to:

• Children's Hospital Corporation, Boston-- $599,998 per year to support network centers in the adaptation, evaluation, and dissemination of effective interventions and services for children who are refugees and may have been exposed to war, political oppression, torture, and/or forced displacement.
• University of Maryland at Baltimore, Maryland-- $600,000 per year to develop, implement, evaluate and disseminate sound, family-based interventions for underserved urban and military populations. The program will include core components of trauma-focused care within a comprehensive framework of service delivery for families.
• The University of Montana, Missoula-- $600,000 per year to disseminate and evaluate culturally adapted, evidence-based trauma treatments for American Indian/Alaska Native children, particularly on reservations.
• Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York City -- $600,000 per year to adapt, evaluate, and disseminate evidence-based, culturally competent, trauma-focused interventions to serve children and families in child protective service settings.
• Children's Hospital of Philadelphia-- $599,829 per year to address and reduce medical trauma in the lives of children and their families by promoting trauma-focused health care and integrating practical evidence-based tools into pediatric medical care.

Another category of grants provided under NCTSI are Community Treatment and Services (CTS) Center grants, which are designed to promote and evaluate effective treatment systems in community and youth-oriented settings. These grants also promote enhanced network systems for clinical, methodological, policy, financing and training issues. Each grant recipient will receive up to $400,000 per year for up to four years. Grants were awarded to:

• Children's Institute, Inc., Los Angeles -- $400,000 in the first year to implement the Central Los Angeles Child Trauma Collaborative that will improve access to trauma-specific mental health treatment for high-risk urban children and adolescents, many of whom are ethnic minorities.
• Denver Department of Human Services-- $400,000 per year to make Child Parent Psychotherapy available to abused and neglected children and their families within Denver's child welfare system.
• Children's Home Society of Florida, Pensacola, Fla. -- $400,000 per year to partner with the Florida Mental Health Institute and develop a Trauma Recovery for Youth Center. This project will address child and family issues to promote stability and help prepare youth to successfully transition to independent living after foster care.
• University of Kentucky Research Foundation, Lexington -- $400,000 per year to provide clinical training and information on evidence-based practices in four rural and urban areas in the state.
• Mental Health Services for Homeless Persons, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio-- $400,000 per year to serve traumatized children ages 4-18 referred for treatment as well as provide training for employees of the Department of Children and Family Services of Cuyahoga County.
• Latino Health Institute, Boston-- $399,999 in the first year, to improve access to and quality of treatment and intervention services for Latino children and their families who have been impacted by traumatic events. The program will also increase knowledge of evidence-based interventions among mental health care providers who serve Latinos in Massachusetts.
• Kennedy Krieger Research Institute, Inc., Baltimore, Md. -- $399,961 per year to provide comprehensive local and statewide services for high-risk, underserved children who have experienced traumatic events, and expansion of the Trauma Training Academy to provide education on trauma-focused treatments.
• Community Counseling Center, Portland, Maine -- $400,000 per year to develop a community-wide trauma-focused system of care for children who have witnessed violence in or out of the home. This program will provide a full range of trauma-focused services; outreach, community education, assessment and triage, training and treatment.
• Catholic Charities, Inc., Jackson, Miss. -- $400,000 in the first year to implement a trauma-focused system of care throughout the state to meet the needs of children and families and offer best practices for children, regardless of ethnicity or economic status.
• Aliviane, Inc., El Paso, Texas -- $400,000 in the first year, to create a trauma-focused community with an array of research-based services and activities to serve children exposed to complex trauma, improve social competence and emotion management and foster healthy relationships.

Both categories of grants under this initiative will be administered by SAMHSA's Center for Mental Health Services.

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The Center for Mental Health Services is a component of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, United States Department of Health and Human Services.