Trauma-Informed Care Consortium

Central Texas

"Building a Community of Care for Children, Families and Providers"

www.traumatexas.com

Newsletter

August 2015

Table of Contents

Spotlight on Child & Family Research Institute

Trauma-Informed Classrooms

Trauma Trainings in Manor ISD

VA Support for Veteran Parents

TICC Members

Spotlight on

UT Child & Family

Research Institute

The Child and Family Research Institute seeks to enhances the lives of children and families through transformational research, program development and evaluation, curriculum development and policy analyses that foster meaningful solutions for vulnerable populations. Located within the School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin, our institute has worked on many projects involving trauma-informed care in the areas of child welfare, teen pregnancy & prevention, immigrant families and school social work.

Utilizing our experiences in both direct social work practice and social welfare policy, our researchers seek to build evidence for social work practitioners and policy makers to improve practices and systems. We value strong academic, practitioner and community relationships. We view practitioners and program administrators as the experts of their work and strive to create research and program evaluations whose findings can be utilized by those working directly with children and families.

In addition to participating in TICC, we have established the Pediatric Trauma Informed Research and Care Collaboration (PTIRCC) in partnership with Dell Children's Medical Center Trauma Research Team and DFPS Prevention and Early Intervention Services. The PTIRCC is a community collaboration working with medical providers to address child and parent trauma in direct practice settings. To learn more, please visit us at https://sites.utexas.edu/cfri/

TICC's Trauma-Informed Organization Readiness Survey Results

Click Here!

Upcoming Trainings

*Please check our website (www.traumatexas.com) for on-going updates and additions to our trainings calendar!

August

Trauma and the Adolescent Brain

8/28/15

Trauma-Informed Care Systems Implementation Webinar
8/31/15

September

A Day of Transforming Trauma with Laura van Dernoot Lipsky (Tacoma, WA)

9/17/15

DePelchin Children's Center: Trauma-Informed Care Conference

9/17/15-9/18/15

Third Annual Military Conference

9/17/15-9/18/15

Healing Developmental Trauma: Integrating Somatic Psychology and Interpersonal Neurobiology in Working with Shame, Safety, Self and the Polyvagal Theory

9/18/15-9/19/15

Transforming Trauma: A Day with Laura Van Dernoot Lipsky (Marble Falls)

9/25/15

Working with Trauma & Emotional Arousal: Clinical Implications of Attachment & Countertransference-Dr. Arlene Montgomery

9/25/15-9/26/15

Self-Compassion and Emotional Resilience with Kristen Neff

9/26/15

October

5th Annual National LOSS Team Conference

10/7/15-10/9/15

Certificate Program in Traumatic Stress Studies

10/19/15

United Way Early Childhood Stakeholder Meeting

10/29/15

Add TICC to Your

List Serve

Please notify

kmitten@austinchildguidance.org

of any upcoming trainings

your agency is holding in

order to get them added

to the website and newsletter!

The Trauma-Informed Care Consortium is funded by:

St. David's Foundation

Featured Articles

Trauma-Informed Classrooms:

What Can Schools Do?

Seanna Crosbie, LCSW

Austin Child Guidance Center

You may have read about the recent landmark lawsuit brought by students and teachers of Compton Unified School District in California. The heart of this lawsuit is to insure that all public schools address the specific learning needs of children who have experienced trauma.

Some think that trauma is only a mental health issue, and that schools do not need to become involved in a child's recovery from trauma. However, children spend a significant amount of time, growth and development in schools.

According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), one out of every four children attending school has been exposed to a traumatic event that can affect learning and/or behavior. Research also consistently shows that trauma can impact school performance including lower grades, higher dropout rates, a decrease in ability to focus and integrate academic material, as well as a decrease in reading ability. The good news is that schools can help children recover by increasing a child's sense of safety, creating policies and procedures to support these students, and actively screening students for trauma symptoms in order to identify those who may need additional support.

To read full article, click here.

Manor ISD Brings

Trauma-Informed Trainings

to the District

Seanna Crosbie, LCSW

Austin Child Guidance Center

Manor Independent School District (MISD) has been active in the Trauma-Informed Care Consortium of Central Texas (TICC) through the efforts and leadership of member Julie Ann Herrera. Ms. Herrera has taken advantage of the trauma-related trainings that TICC offers and has championed an initiative to bring trauma-informed care trainings to the Manor district.

The kickoff for this initiative began this month by bringing together Austin Child Guidance Center, Communities in Schools, and Texas Department of State and Health Services to provide an all-day training to MISD school counselors. The topic of these trainings included identification of trauma symptoms, trauma screeners/assessments, as well as ways to intervene and assist students in the classroom.

Tabita Gutierrez, MISD Director of Counseling and Guidance said, "The summer training for counselors, social workers, and other support personnel in the district was an opportunity for all to focus on trauma-informed care to better serve our students. Thus, the focus for the first year will be to train teachers in conjunction with our other district initiatives to provide support to students: SB460, Mental Health Awareness, digital citizenship, and anti-bullying emphasis." In addition to on-going education and outreach, the district will also identify a trauma screener to utilize with students as well as refine the referral process for counseling and mental health services.

To read full article, click here.

VA Support for Veteran Parents

Pamela Smith, Ph.D.

Veteran parents often experience unique challenges in parenting. For example, separations required during military deployments can disrupt the parent-child relationship and cause changes in established parenting routines. In addition, combat-related mental health problems in parents, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, and substance use disorders, have been associated with an increased incidence of mental health problems in children.

In an effort to support Veteran parents and foster improved developmental outcomes for Veterans' children, the Veterans Health Administration initiated efforts nationally to provide parenting education for Veterans and their spouses, co-parenting partners and family members.

Recently, the Austin VA Outpatient Clinic, part of the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System (CTVHCS), was selected by VA National Family Services as the Lead Site within our larger VA region (known as VISN 17) to pilot a parenting intervention. The pilot was developed by Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) in partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Previously, MCEC primarily conducted their workshops with active duty personnel, but this new pilot collaboration represents an effort to extend their work to the Veteran population.

To read full article, click here.

Featured Training

Register Now

DePelchin Children's Center

Trauma-Informed Care Conference

Transforming the Lives of Families