NCTSN: THE NETWORK NEWS

Dateline: November 1, 2002 Vol. 1, Issue 7

Welcome New Network Partners

We welcome two new Network Partners to the NCTSN! The Parsons Child and Family Center in Albany, NY, and the Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, WA joined our Network this past month. Lucy Berliner is the Principal Investigator at Harborview, which has particular expertise in the treatment of children who have been sexually abused. Joseph Benamati is the Principal Investigator at Parsons, which represents the only residential child care facility in our Network. We are looking forward to meeting staff from both centers at our upcoming All Network Meeting.

Network Site Spotlight

Featured Site: The Cullen Center for Children, Adolescents, and Families

Located in Toledo, Ohio, the Cullen Center is the result of a collaborative effort between Toledo Children's Hospital and the local Children's Advocacy Center, a program of the Family and Child Abuse Prevention Center. The vision of the Cullen Center is to provide the supports to allow children and adolescents who experience traumatic events to be able to heal and reclaim their lives with the help of their families, friends, trained professionals and a community that understands their strengths and needs. The Cullen Center provides individual, family, and group therapy for children, teens, and their caretakers who experience traumatic events including: child abuse; witnessing violence; serious accidents, injuries, or illnesses; loss of friends or loved ones, and other types of traumas.

According to Project Director Kris Buffington, the Cullen Center is currently active on the NCTSN Sexual Abuse Task Force, and the Measures Committee. Kris Buffington states, "We are particularly interested in connecting with other Network sites to develop strategies to increase citizen involvement in community practice through a better understanding of trauma and how to assist trauma survivors. Kris asks those interested in this issue to contact her at [email protected].

Cullen Center staff is participating in training and certification as Trauma/Loss Consultants through the TLC Institute, using a treatment model called "Structured Sensory Intervention for Traumatized Children, Adolescents, and Parents (SITCAP)" developed by William Steele, MSW, and Psy.D. Director of the TLC Institute. Buffington is interested in feedback from other sites on this model.

Two additional projects of the Cullen Center involve the juvenile justice system and family violence activities. Cullen is working with the local juvenile justice system to develop interventions for traumatized youth that have entered or are at risk of entering the juvenile justice system. This exciting collaboration may provide a great opportunity to work with the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ).

Cullen is also collaborating with Paramount Health Insurance to find effective ways to assist families who are impacted by family violence. Cullen Center Medical Director, Dr. Michael Ruhlen has identified a family violence protocol developed by the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement. Cullen is providing information to Paramount on various standardized measures of PTSD symptoms and trauma histories and identifying other community partners who have expertise treating children exposed to family violence.

Network Member Activities

Regional Meetings:

Two Regional meetings have already been held: the Western Regional Meeting on September 30 in Los Angeles and the Midwestern Regional Meeting on October 14 in Chicago. Upcoming regional meetings are the Northeastern Regional Meeting, on November 22 in New York City and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Meeting on December 5 in Washington, DC. The purpose of these regional meetings is to provide an opportunity for the Network sites funded in the first and second phases to meet, and to give a brief orientation to all Network Members on the structure, management tools, and activities of the Network. The first two meetings have been well received, and have generated good ideas for future collaborative activities. Intermountain West Child Trauma Treatment Network Training

The Child Trauma Treatment Network - Intermountain West Training Conference was held September 18-20 in Snowbird, Utah. Over 100 professionals from the Intermountain West Network in Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and South Dakota attended. Truly a Network collaborative effort, speakers from NCTSN included Bob Pynoos from UCLA; Tony Mannarino and Judy Cohen from Allegheny General in Pittsburgh; David Kolko and Karen Stubenbort from University of Pittsburgh; Patricia Van Horn and Chandra Ghosh Ippen from University of California at San Francisco; and Mary Steritt and Karen Mallah from the Mental Health Corporation of Denver.

Domestic Violence Videoconference

The National Children's Advocacy Center of Huntsville, Alabama and the Children's Advocacy Services of Greater St. Louis, new members of NCTSN, are co-sponsoring two upcoming videoconferences in St. Louis. The first, was held on October 24, on "Developmental and Medical Effects of Domestic Violence on Children" by John Stirling, MD. The second, on October 31, is on "The Emotional Impact of Domestic Violence on Children by Sharon McGee.

Jewish Board of Family and Children Center Services Conference

The Jewish Board of Family and Children Center for Trauma Program Innovation sponsored a one-day conference "Building Safe Communities: Coping with Uncertainty and Violence," on October 7, 2002, attended by over 450 professionals. Many Network partners participated in the meeting including keynote addresses by Bessel van der Kolk, The Trauma Center, and Claude Chemtob, Terrorism/Disaster Branch, and a luncheon discussion led by Robert Abramovitz of JBFCS. Other Network partners involved in this conference were Safe Horizon-St. Vincent's, NYC Child Center, and North Shore Adolescent Trauma TDC.

Steering Committee

The Steering Committee has been having monthly conference calls, with its next face to face meeting scheduled for December 8, in Lansdowne, VA. The Network is moving from its organizational phase, which included establishing the Steering Committee along with common vision and goals for the Network, to a Network construction phase. In this stage, fostering integration and collaboration are the main activities.

In September, the Steering Committee discussed Network activities related to 9/11 and its anniversary, and began final review of the Network Long-Range Plan. The Committee specifically reviewed the NCTSN Vision Statement, Critical Success Factors and the Identity Manual. The Steering Committee also reviewed the organization of the National Center into Functional Cores and the role of the Network Liaisons. The Committee discussed various mechanisms for representing their Network colleagues on the Steering Committee.

The October call focused on Network expansion and the Regional Meetings. Options for collaborating regionally as well as topically were discussed. The Steering Committees stressed the importance of presenting the Network culture as non-hierarchical at regional meetings. The Committee reviewed plans for the All Network Meeting in December and made suggestions for agenda topics. The Service Data Form was discussed because it will be disseminated in the next SAMHSA quarterly report.

For complete minutes of Steering Committee calls go to the grantee-only portion of www.NCTSNET.org

Committees/Task Forces

1) The Data Operations Committee had its first meeting on September 27 in Durham, North Carolina and was attended by representatives from Network sites, the Measures Committee, the National Center and SAMHSA. Chaired by John Fairbank, the Committee agreed on its mission: Provide oversight and guidance in the design, collection, and analysis of Network data. The Committee formed a workgroup to begin the task of proposing a core data set for the Network. This workgroup, chaired by Betsy Farmer of the National Center, will propose data items for populations served, service utilization and outcomes. Betsy Farmer can be reached at [email protected]

2) Members of the Early Childcare Training Task Force, (formerly the Preschool Curriculum Task Force), met for a planning meeting in San Francisco, CA on August 22-23. Betsy McAlister Groves of the Child Witness to Violence Project at Boston Medical Center chairs the Task Force. The mission of the Task Force is to enhance the capacity of early childcare providers (including in-home providers and shelter care providers) to recognize and respond to children, age birth to five, and their families who are affected by trauma. At the meeting, the group began a review of existing resources, identified key principles and domains of training, and created a plan to conduct a needs assessment of childcare providers. The three next steps prioritized by the Task Force are (1) to organize focus groups of providers in different settings across the country, (2) to complete the review of existing training materials, and (3) to identify possible funding opportunities for creating educational materials for teachers and childcare providers.

3) Complex Trauma Task Force: A Complex Trauma Task Force has been established, with a focus on increasing our understanding of the immediate and long-term effects of multiple and prolonged childhood exposure to traumatic incidents. The task force intends to use this knowledge to inform the development of evidence-based interventions for children and adolescents that can be effectively implemented in real life clinical settings.

The Complex Trauma Task Force resulted from the formation of a special interest group at the inaugural NCTSN meeting in February. Bessel van der Kolk serves as interim chair of this Task Force. The Task Force has developed a brief survey on Complex Trauma which will be distributed by the National Center to all Network sites this Winter in order to assess the scope of the problem of complex trauma exposure, the range of manifestations of impairment, and common approaches to intervention. Upcoming activities will include a winter telephone conference begin planning for a spring 2003 in-person planning meeting. While the roster for the Complex Trauma Task Force is almost full, effort will be made to include representatives from new Network sites with a strong interest in this topic. For information about joining this Task Force, copies of the Complex Trauma White Paper, or other inquiries, please contact Joseph Spinazzola, interim Deputy Chair: [email protected]; (617) 782-6460 x216.

National Center Activities

Center Staff Change

Judy Holland, who has been manager of the National Resource Center at NCCTS since February, moved into the Duke Network Liaison position on October 1. Her responsibilities will include being a primary link between Network members in the eastern half of the country and the National Center. Her role, along with UCLA Network Liaison Chris Siegfried, is to maintain regular communication with NCTSN centers and to respond to inquiries from individual sites as well as collaborative groups undertaking joint projects. Both Network Liaisons can provide assistance in planning Network activities and in brokering expert consultation from other National Center staff, Expert Core members, or Network members. Judy can be reached at [email protected] or at 919 687-4686 x 302. She will be actively involved in the Northeastern and Mid- Atlantic Regional meetings coming up this fall.

Reading of the Month

We have begun the reading of the month program as a way to establish a common language and knowledge base about child trauma throughout the NCTSN. Each month an article or book chapter will be recommended and distributed if available electronically. We hope that the article will be circulated throughout member sites and discussed in staff in-service training. If you have not yet submitted your suggestions for articles or other references that you think are important to our Network's understanding about child trauma, please send your references to Melissa Brymer, [email protected].

NCTSN Web Site - Update

The NCTSN Web site is moving into a development phase that will significantly expand its capacity. Minutes from committee and task force meetings will continue to be posted while the new site is under construction. Please contact Peter Kung at [email protected] if you are having trouble accessing the grantee log-in site or want to set up your password.

New Features - Calendar and Job Corner: Please send information about your upcoming NCTSN events to the Web site. We are posting all events on the Intranet calendar and would love to have your events listed. Please indicate the target audience for your events and whether other Network members may attend. The Web site is also opening a job corner. If you have open positions and would like to recruit from a national pool of candidates, please consider posting on the NCTSN Web site. Please forward information for the calendar, job descriptions and closing dates to Kim Ling at [email protected].

Federal Grant News

The Health and Human Services Department provided grant funds in September to fund mental health services to public safety workers who responded to the 9/11/2001 attacks. Recipients of the grant awards included NCTSN members Safe Horizon, St Vincent Catholic Medical Center, and the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine.

HHS is also providing funds to the State of Maryland to provide mental health services to those affected by the sniper attacks in the Washington DC area this month. The press release also mentions the NCTSN as a source of assistance to children affected by the shootings, especially for communities whose schools have been closed or were in extended security mode.

Items of Interest

Web sites

A new School Violence Prevention Web site, launched by CMHS, can be found at www.mentalhealth.org/highlights/August2002

Listservs

The Caring for Every Child's Mental Health Campaign, sponsored by CMHS, sponsors regular conference calls on topics related to Child Mental Health. For more information, call 202/331-9816.

The Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children's Mental Health sponsor RtcUpdates. The RTC publishes FOCAL POINT magazines as well as a variety of other publications that are listed in these monthly updates. The Fall 2002 issue of FOCAL POINT addresses "Cultural Competence and Children's Mental Health," with features on successful strategies for improving the capacity for cultural competence at the system, service and organizational level. To subscribe to this link, go to http://www.rtc.pdx.edu and click on "Join our list".

Reports

The U.S. General Accounting Office issued a report, "Mental Health Services, Effectiveness of Insurance Coverage and Federal Programs for Children Who Have Experienced Trauma Largely Unknown." Many Network partners contributed to the development of this report, which reviews various funding streams used to pay for services to traumatized children. The report found that the many programs either had no evaluations or were not able to substantiate the effectiveness of services delivered. The report recommends that FEMA and SAMHSA work together to evaluate the effectiveness of disaster crisis counseling programs. The full report can be found at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d02813.pdf

"Promoting Positive Mental and Emotional Health in Teens: Some Lessons from Research" presents "what works" and "best bets" for preventing or addressing mental and emotional health problems among adolescents. In this two-part research brief, Child Trends presents the findings from its review of nearly 300 studies of adolescent mental health and emotional well being. Part 1 of the brief addresses mental health in adolescence and Part 2 covers emotional well being. The brief is intended to help policymakers and practitioners develop sound prevention and intervention strategies. This is the fifth in a series of Child Trend research briefs based on a comprehensive review of adolescent development research. The brief is available at http://www.childtrends.org/PDF/K5Brief.pdf.

"The World Report on Violence and Health", by the World Health Organization, addresses violence as a global public health problem. It focuses on the scale of the problem, issues related to the causes of violence and methods for preventing violence and reducing its adverse health and social consequences. For more information, visit www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention. To order a copy, contact [email protected]

Resources

The National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center has opened a special section of its web site www.safeyouth.org to feature information on terrorism targeted to the needs of children and teens. Information is also available through the toll free number 1-866-SAFEYOUTH.

The National Health Law Program and the Access Project have released a revised publication "Immigrant Access to Health Benefits: A Resource Manual." The Manual explains eligibility requirements for federal and state programs and identifies issues that can be barriers to access to health care for immigrants and their families. It costs $25. To order call 310-204-6010 or email [email protected]

The Children's Defense Fund Violence Prevention Listserv highlights several reports on violence prevention, media exposure, and youth gang crime. [email protected] The Center for Mental Health services of SAMHSA has created the Resource Center to Address Discrimination and Stigma (ADS) to help mental health consumers, family members, advocates, providers, and others affected by mental illness and the negative effects of stigma and discrimination. Contact 1-800-789- 2657 or www.mentalhealth.org/stigma

Funding Opportunity

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is funding grants in four categories: Established Investigator Awards (up to $100,000 for 2 years), Standard Research Grants (up to $60,000 for two years), Pilot Grants (up to $20,000 for two years) and Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (up to $32,000 for 3 years). Applications are due by December 15, 2002. For more information, visit www.afsp.org or email to [email protected]

The 2003 NIH loan repayment program has been formally announced at the two Web sites below. This program offers eligible clinical researchers some debt relief from their educational loans. The eligibility is much broader this year. http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-03-004.html http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-03-005.html

Future submissions to the Network News should be sent to Thérèse Murdza at [email protected]