SAMHSA Provides Child-Informed Trauma Resources

High-profile tragedies involving children and youth—such as natural disasters and mass shootings—happen far too frequently in contemporary America. In addition, less publicized and non-publicized traumatic events affect children in every community every day.

The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) offers information and a variety of resources designed to help make child-serving systems more trauma-informed.

Earlier this year, SAMHSA held an awareness day and an online town hall to present trauma-focused strategies for child-serving systems.

The theme of the town hall was “Partnering for Help and Hope Following Trauma.” The discussion focused on ensuring that trauma-informed care is present in school settings; military family settings; court, child welfare, and family services settings; and in the general health-care system. The emphasis was on ensuring that everyone in contact with a child and his or her family interacts through the same trauma-informed lens. A webcast of the town hall, with a running time of more than two hours, is available for free viewing online.

During the webcast, officials from several programs in a variety of settings across the nation described their approaches to helping children and youth. 

One panel discussion focused on the challenges faced by children in military families who may have experienced trauma. Frequent relocations and parental deployments affect—and mandate—a continuity of care for military youngsters. Responsiveness from Tricare and other health-care providers, as well as consistent trauma-informed care across the system, were noted as some of the keys to helping these children. 

Another discussion focused on the (San Francisco) Bay Area Trauma Informed System of Care. That program focuses on helping families in crisis and foster children know that everyone in the child welfare system cares about them and wants to help them heal. The project is designed to train mental health professionals, clergy, coaches, agency workers, probation officers and others in trauma-informed care so that the children they work with will receive the care they need.

In 2014, the Bay Area Trauma Informed Regional Collaborative Group received a $1 million SAMHSA grant spanning four years that includes funding for the group’s key activity, a regional clearinghouse and coordinating center designed to integrate existing knowledge, incorporate new ideas, address challenges to training and sustaining an effective and diverse trauma-informed work force and develop mechanisms to support implementation and the sustainability of best practices. 

SAMHSA offers a number of resources on its Awareness Day 2018 web page, including a four-page report with infographics on child trauma, a resource list focused on child traumatic stress and information on SAMHSA grants.

The American Counseling Association also offers trauma-related resources, including those related to child trauma.