The New England Psychologist published an article titled: "Initiative brings services to young children with trauma" in their December edition. CHDI was awarded a federal grant to create the Early Childhood Trauma Collaborative (ECTC). The ECTC will help bridge a gap for services to very young children in Connecticut suffering from exposure to trauma.
By Pamela Berard, New England Psychologist
A new grant will help bridge a gap for services to very young children in Connecticut suffering from exposure to trauma.
The Child Health and Development Institute (CHDI) was awarded a five-year, $2 million grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to expand services to young children in Connecticut suffering from exposure to trauma, including violence, abuse, chronic neglect, loss of a family member, serious accidents and illness.
The grant will fund the Early Childhood Trauma Collaborative initiative. Led by CHDI, the collaborative will partner with the Office of Early Childhood, the Department of Children and Families, the Consultation Center at Yale (evaluator), treatment developers, and nine mental health provider agencies, and is part of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, a federal network of 81 funded members and more than 100 affiliates.
For the past decade, CHDI has partnered with state agencies and mental health centers to develop a system of trauma-informed care for school-aged children in Connecticut, but has observed a gap in services for younger children and their families.
“For very young children, there has been a limited availability for mental health services that are specific for children exposed to trauma,” said Jason Lang, Ph.D., CHDI director of dissemination and implementation. “Here in Connecticut, and I think it’s true nationally, as well, there’s been a lot of work to get evidence-based practices for older children in the community, but we still see a pretty big gap for children under 7 on the mental health side.”
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