I am an assistant professor of Social work at the University of Minnesota's College of Education and Human Development. For the past 20 years, I have worked in the area of refugee childhood trauma and resilience, engaging in both research and in intervention development and implementation. Prior to joining UMN, I have been a part of a NCTSN site, Boston Children's Hospital Center for Refugee Trauma and Resilience, where I was a member of the leadership team that developed Trauma Systems Therapy for Refugees (TST-R). I train and consult nationally and internationally with organizations that are developing and providing mental health services for refugee and immigrant children. My works focuses on effective cross-cultural communications and engagement, developing interventions that effectively address refugee and immigrant children's mental health needs, and implementing, evaluating and disseminating them.
Network Members
This listing of NCTSN members includes current grantees as well as NCTSN Affiliates, former grantees who have maintained their ties to the Network.
Abdi, Saida, MSW, PhD
Acosta, Marisol, MEd, LPC-S
I am an LPC-Supervisor and currently work as the Director of Clinical Services at Any Baby Can and oversee home-based mental health services and medical case management for children with special health care needs )CSHCN). At Any Baby Can we work with trauma impacted populations, including CSHC, trauma impacted families, immigrant populations and have efforts focused on disaster preparedness and response for families of CSHCN. I am the Co-Founder of Expertus Soulutions, a consulting and training business focused on elevating quality of care and competency of workforce thru trauma informed care (TIC) and best practices at health and human services organizations. As the former Texas Children Mental Health Director at HHSC, I am an experienced leader in statewide behavioral health systems transformation and the creation of sustainable TIC communities and organizations that bring community-stakeholders and persons with lived experience together to address trauma in a culturally and linguistic sensitive manner while incorporating best practices and fostering a resilient workforce. My areas of expertise related to children and families are: trauma and displaced populations (including unaccompanied minors and asylum seekers), children of military families, critical incidents and disaster response and preparedness, trauma informed care organizational transformation, policies and practices in children's systems of care, Core Curriculum on Childhood Trauma, and suicide prevention/postvention. I have implemented at a statewide level trauma screenings and assessments EBPs, TFCBT, CBT, PCIT, Seeking Safety, Nurturing Parenting, PFA, SPR, Zero Suicide and other EBPs.
Adams, Zachary
Dr. Adams is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. His work focuses on improving the quality and accessibility of behavioral health services for youth and families, particularly among those who have experienced trauma and adversity.
Adelphi University, Institute for Adolescent Trauma Training and Treatment
The Institute for Adolescent Trauma Treatment and Training serves as a training center and resource for the delivery of evidence-based trauma-informed treatment to children and adolescents across the United States, with an emphasis on youth in residential settings, the majority of whom have been affected by complex trauma. Building on groundwork from previous funding cycles, the Institute partners with local and national agencies and service systems to do the following: (1) intensively train multidisciplinary providers to deliver trauma-informed interventions to youth in residential settings across the United States; (2) develop and disseminate multi-media products (e.g., treatment protocols, fact sheets, workshops, webinars, youth-led videos) and specialized resources for youth, families, and providers in various types of residential settings; and (3) promote sustainability of trauma-informed practices through the development of policies, practices, and procedures that will embed trauma services within residential systems on an organizational level.
Training in several leading trauma-specific interventions used in residential settings is offered through ongoing Learning Communities. Training in client-level interventions includes Structured Psychotherapy for Adolescents Responding to Chronic Stress (SPARCS) and Real Life Heroes (RLH). Systems-level training in Think Trauma, and Attachment, Regulation, and Competency (ARC) helps establish a trauma-informed organizational culture and provides foundational support for bringing in the trauma-specific clinical interventions. Also, the Institute develops general and specialized resources for use in various types of residential settings, including intervention adaptations for settings with short-lengths of stay and for specific subpopulations such as unaccompanied refugee minors.
Aliviane, Inc.
Aliviane™'s Youth and Family Outpatient serves children, adolescents, adults, and families in need of substance use and/or mental health counseling. Counselors and therapists are trained to treat a variety of behavioral health concerns, including trauma, depression, anxiety, substance use disorders, and other mental health or behavioral concerns.
Allegheny General Hospital-Singer Research Institute, Center for Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents
The AGH Center for Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents provides national expertise in Clinical Interventions for Traumatic Stress Reactions. The Center, which developed Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and Alternatives for Families: A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (AF-CBT), addresses behavioral health disparities with a particular focus on the following adaptations: (1) TF-CBT for traumatized LGBTQ youth; 2) TF-CBT for commercially sexually exploited youth; (3) AF-CBT for children with parental substance abuse; and (4) TF-CBT and AF-CBT for military children with traumatic stress reactions. We are collaborating with several NCTSN Community Treatment and Services Centers, as well as with Persad Center—the 2nd oldest LGBTQ counseling center in the US—and the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors—the nation’s premier military bereavement program—to develop resources and products for these populations. We are increasing sustainability by developing TF-CBT and AF-CBT recertification procedures and expanding our Train the Supervisor programs.
Alliance for Inclusion and Prevention
Alliance for Inclusion and Prevention (AIP)’s Center for Trauma Care in Schools (CTCS) is a hub for training and school-based delivery of evidence-based practices (EBPs) to treat traumatic stress in children in Boston’s public schools. AIP collaborates with Boston Public Schools (BPS), Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, and community mental health providers to deliver a training program for clinicians in evidence-based approaches for treating students with traumatic stress symptoms. CTCS-trained clinicians and clinical interns screen students for trauma and provide Trauma Systems Therapy (individuals) and Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) (groups). In addition, CTCS collaborates with schools to foster trauma-sensitive school environments and with clinical training programs to develop a workforce skilled in treating trauma in schools using EBPs. The goals of CTCS are to: (1) increase access to trauma services via school-based interventions; (2) improve quality of services through provision of a continuum of evidence-based screening and treatments; and (3) foster school environments that are sensitive to traumatic stress.
CTCS Project Strands: (1) School-Based Screening for Trauma; (2) Training in School-Based, Evidence-Based Practices Addressing Trauma; (3) Provision of Evidence-Based, School-Based Services Addressing Trauma; (4) Building System Capacity. For 10 years, AIP has operated a school-based mental health partnership in a dozen Boston public schools with a focus on trauma and has developed the school-based adaptation of Trauma Systems Therapy.
American Institutes for Research
The American Institutes for Research (AIR) supports organizations across service systems in adopting a universal, trauma-informed approach. As a member of the NCTSN, AIR's National Center on Family Homelessness developed a first-of-its kind Trauma-Informed Organizational Self-Assessment for homeless service settings to support agencies serving trauma-exposed children and families in adopting a trauma-informed approach program and agency-wide. The Self-Assessment has since been adapted for community based agencies serving displaced children and families and for agencies serving women veterans experiencing homelessness. AIR continues to expand its work to support universal trauma-informed care through the creation of its Trauma-Informed Organizational Capacity (TIC) Scale, the first brief, validated instrument for measuring level of trauma-informed care across health and human service settings. AIR provides training and consultation to support the assessment and systemic implementation of a trauma-informed approach across child and youth-serving systems using its Trauma-Informed Systems Change Framework.
Anchorage Community Mental Health Center, Alaska Child Trauma Center
The Alaska Child Trauma Center at ACMHS provides comprehensive evidence-based treatment services to children impacted by complex trauma. It has served as an implementation center for the ARC (Attachment, Self-Regulation, and Competency) framework developed at the Trauma Center at the Justice Resource Institute. The Alaska Child Trauma Center serves as a center of expertise in trauma treatment, and multi-disciplinary and systemic responses to complex trauma in Alaska. Currently, the Alaska Child Trauma Center manages the statewide Alaska Trauma Training Initiative and a statewide early childhood mental health training initiative for the State of Alaska.
Another Choice, Another Chance, Community Child Trauma Treatment Center
Another Choice, Another Chance will provide outpatient Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TF-CBT) to children and youth aged 3–18 from diverse ethnic backgrounds, who live at or below the poverty level, and who have been victims of sexual exploitation and abuse. The center will provide 12–20 sessions of individual, group, and/or family treatment services to 200 children/youth and their parents or other primary caregivers.