To support the provision of services to children and adolescents with trauma histories across the UPMC Western Behavioral Health network, a curriculum was developed that allows for each clinic specialty and location to establish a trauma treatment framework that meets the specific needs of the population served.
This curriculum establishes a baseline level training for child and adolescent programs to become trauma informed. From there, each clinic can move along the ladder to more intensive training, depending on the needs of the clinic.
Step 1: Trauma Lecture
Basic Training in Child Trauma. Providing quality mental health care requires an understanding of the impact of childhood trauma on early and adolescent development, identity, and behavior. This didactic training, delivered virtually and appropriate for all mental health professionals working with children and adolescents, will explore early trauma's effect on brain development, personality, and relationships. It will also provide a detailed discussion regarding how early attachments impact mental health and the influence of intergenerational trauma on children and families.
Step 2: Trauma Laboratory
Clinical Lab in Child Trauma. The Trauma Lab is meant to provide more in-depth training that is directly applicable to the clinic and population being served. Staff members within the clinic will all have attended the Basic Training in Child Trauma prior to the Trauma Lab. Utilizing a case-based approach, the goal of this training will be to utilize the information provided in the Basic Training in Child Trauma lecture to provide a deeper understanding of the impact of trauma on children and adolescents and how to incorporate these concepts into treatment planning. The facilitators will request that participants bring detailed information on two real clinical cases to this 2 hour, on-site in-person, live training. In addition, concepts addressed during training will include the impact of secondary traumatic stress on clinician functioning and client outcomes. This training session serves a secondary purpose as a needs assessment to identify the need for additional trauma training and/or treatment implementation into specialty clinics or UPMC Western Behavioral Network locations.
Step 3: Consultation & Support
Structured Trauma-Focused Consultation. The intent of Step 3 is to provide follow-up support for incorporating trauma-focused concepts into treatment at individual clinics. Consultation support can be regularly scheduled or scheduled as needed, depending on clinic needs. It is anticipated that consultation may be more frequent following the Trauma Lab and then tapered down over time as the concepts take hold in standards of care. Alternatively, clinics who elect to incorporate specific Evidence-Based Treatments (Step 4) into their clinics will transition to support that is provided as part of the training and implementation process.
Step 4: Training & Implementation of Evidence-Based Treatment (EBT)
The most advanced step of the implementation of trauma standards of care is the incorporation of specific evidence-based trauma treatments into clinical service delivery. The following EBTs are available for implementation. Additionally, if the clinic needs assessment indicates that another type of NCTSN treatment would be more appropriate, the Theiss Center for Child & Adolescent Trauma will help facilitate the implementation of an alternative.