Welcome to the Center for Traumatic Stress
This site describes the services the Center provides, available resources, upcoming and/or recent presentations and trainings, both regionally and nationally; information on the Center's esteemed founders and their support staff, and the founders' experience and body of work in the areas of child abuse, child trauma, and bereavement. The Center's founders, Anthony Mannarino, Ph.D. and Judith Cohen, M.D. have been awarded funding by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) for their three year study "TF-CBT for Adjudicated Youth in Residential Treatment." The project will compare two different strategies (web-based training versus web-based plus live training) for delivering an evidence-based youth trauma treatment, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) to therapists in 13-14 residential treatment facilities (RTF) serving adjudicated youth ages 12-17 years old in New England. Sixty therapists will be randomized to receive web-based training versus web-based plus live training, then treat approximately 300 youth to determine which treatment is superior.
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Annie E. Casey Foundation Study
Judith Cohen, M.D. and Anthony Mannarino, Ph.D. have been awarded funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation for a two-year project entitled "Disseminating Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to Child Welfare Therapists: Web-Based Model." The study is intended to disseminate the TF-CBT Web-Based Model to child welfare therapists. These therapists will be engaged in the proces of developing the TF-CBT WebConsult course. At least four early focus groups will convene regarding course content, appearance, layout, and other features (e.g., determining whether the WebConsult course should be taken for Continuing Education Credits vs. WebMD format).
CTGWeb
We are pleased to announce the availability of a fresh, novel web-based learning course, CTGWeb. CTGWeb teaches mental health professionals familiar with the TF-CBTWeb course TF-CBT with cases of childhood traumatic grief. Like TF-CBTWeb, this course is free, too. To learn more, please click "CTGWeb" on the menu at the top of this page.
CTG Information for Military Families
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) has developed Childhood Traumatic Grief (CTG) educational materials for several consumer groups including parents, school personnel, mental health professionals, etc. but one cultural group's needs have not been adequately addressed, that of children of military famliies. This is an important gap to cover considering the fact that this group is currently experiencing a particularly high rate of traumatic loss. In response to the NCTSN's request for proposals in this regard, Judith Cohen, M.D. and Anthony Mannarino, Ph.D. were awarded funding to develop and/or adapt culturally competent educational materials to better serve children in military famliies who are experiencing Childhood Traumatic Grief (CTG). Intended audiences include surviving parents and other family members of children in military famlies who have experienced traumatic deaths; school personnel interacting with children in military families; and medical providers for children in military families. The link "CTG Information for Military Families" is now available through the NCTSN website. To access, go to NCTSNet.org.
In Other News
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The Warhol Project
The Center for Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents and the Warhol Museum are collaborating on a project which integrates sensory art techniques with an established evidence-based treatment (trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy [TF-CBT]) for traumatized children and adolescents with symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including diminished facial expression recognition. The project will develop and evaluate the acceptability of adding a half-day art workshop at the Andy Warhol Museum for traumatized children ages 7-17. This study is funded from April 1, 2012 through March 31, 2014.
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Trauma-Focused CBT for Children and Adolescents Treatment Applications
Judith Cohen, M.D., Anthony Mannarino, Ph.D., and Esther Deblinger, Ph.D. have provided another outstanding contribution to help professionals and trainees gain knowledge of TF-CBT. Since the publication of their first book, TF-CBT has become the leading empirically supported treatment for children exposed to traumatic life events. This book describes ways that TF-CBT is being applied in a range of contexts and with diverse populations. Experienced clinicians provide specific recommendations for effectively implementing the approach in different settings and tailoring TF-CBT for adolescents, children with developmental challenges, military families, and Latino and Native American children. The book became available May 2012 and has garnered critical acclaim. Go to the Order Book option on the menu at the top of this page for additional details.
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Allegheny General Hospital's Center for Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents serves children and families who experience traumatic or stressful events in their lives. This program provides prompt evaluation and treatment of children who have experienced a variety of traumatic life events, including abuse, witnessing violence, death of a family member and/or natural disasters. Major goals of the Center for Traumatic Stress are to alleviate serious symptoms and promote healthy coping responses in traumatized children and their families. The Center is the only one of its kind in the region.
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Judith Cohen, M.D. and Anthony Mannarino, Ph.D. were notified in late September 2012 that they received funding in the amount of $4,000,000 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) for their proposal entitled "Allegheny General Hospital Center for Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents" where they will continue as a National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) Treatment and Services Adaptation (TSA) Center through September 30, 2016. This study will address behavioral health disparities for children in foster care, LGBTQ youth, and military children with traumatic stress reactions or traumatic grief. Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) and Alternatives for families: A cognitive behavioral therapy (AF-CBT) will be adapted for foster children with severe behavioral traumatic stress reactions, attending to ethnic/racial disparities, and data will be evaluated from children in ten community treatment centers receiving these adapted interventions. A culturaly adapted AF-CBT implementation manual will be developed and culturally adapted TF-CBT and AF-CBT training and consultation to therapists who treat military children will be provided. In collaboration with Persad Center, the nation's second oldest LGBTQ provider organization, "safe space" tool kits for child and adolescent mental health providers will be developed in order to make physical spaces safe and welcoming to LGBTQ youth and an LGBTQ-component to TF-CBT training will be provided to therapists as well. With supplemental funding, Drs. Cohen and Mannarino will develop a Clinical Interventions for Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Grief Partnership of national experts, highly experienced service providers and consumers, to develop and evaluate strategies of national impact to establish a sustainable workforce of therapists who can provide affordable, high quality TF-CBT and AF-CBT for children across the United States.
Sesame Street Workshop Materials
Judith Cohen, M.D. has consulted with Sesame Workshop on television specials, most notably "Talk, Listen, Connect TV" which addresses the difficult topic of children experiencing the death of a parent or loved one. The Sesame Street site contains bereavement resources that provide support to the military and non-military families during this most difficult time. Just go to www.sesameworkshop.org/grief for more information.
Before Trauma-Focused CBT for Children and Adolescents - Treatment Applications, Drs. Cohen and Mannarino, in collaboration with acclaimed researcher Esther Deblinger, Ph.D., wrote Treating Trauma and Traumatic Grief in Children and Adolescents, available from Guilford Press. For more information, click to the "Order Book" tab at the top of this page.
Check out www.musc.edu/tfcbt, our web-based educational aid that trains mental health professionals in the use of trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT). Free CE credits are available as well. To get started, access the Links page.
Thursday, November 15, 2012 was Children's Grief Awareness Day.
Learn more about this at http://www.childrensgriefawarenessday.org/cgad/index.shtml
This site was last updated on 1/24/13.
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