BOSTON, MA (NOVEMBER 9, 2021) - The Baker Center, a national leader in children’s mental health, has received a 5-year grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to join it’s National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative. The grant will be used to develop the Center for Traumatic Stress and Comorbidity (CTSC) and provide comprehensive training, implementation, and technical assistance to children’s mental health centers around the country. The goal of the grant is to improve outcomes for children and families impacted by traumatic stress, co-morbid conditions, and associated family issues.
Research has shown that while there are several evidence-based treatments for traumatic stress, providers may find it difficult to flexibly transition between treatments when comorbid problems occur for traumatized youth. Through this program, the faculty of CTSC will assist providers across the country in developing skills to integrate various treatment programs more flexibly.
Additionally, as a leading provider of cutting-edge, trauma-informed treatment methods, CTSC faculty will help install two flexible trauma-informed treatments into the provider network, The Modular Approach to Therapy for Children (MATCH) and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT). MATCH and PCIT are considered revolutionary practices, as they have that additional emphasis on co-morbid disorders which commonly occur alongside trauma. Effective for youth ages 2-17, these two treatment methods can cover approximately 80% of the co-morbid problems associated with traumatic stress.
With the support offered by this grant, The Baker Center aims to help integrate approaches to treating trauma, make MATCH and PCIT more widely used in the therapeutic community, and set a gold standard method for combating traumatic stress in youth.