Wendt resilient scholars project: community-based, family-focused therapy for low-income, minority children and adolescents in washington DC - the wendt resilient scholars community-based,…

Wendt resilient scholars project: community-based, family-focused therapy for low-income, minority children and adolescents in washington DC - the wendt resilient scholars community-based, family-focused project (RSP) addresses barriers to mental health care faced by at-risk children and adolescents in washington, DC, by increasing access to evidence-based treatment services. RSP serves children, adolescents, and families from DC's lowest-income wards. The project implements three evidence-based practices to address untreated trauma, increase protective factors within families, and improve child/adolescent emotional wellbeing and health. The wendt center for loss and healing is the leading provider of trauma-informed mental health care in the washington, DC, region, sharply focused on improving access to treatment for under-resourced communities. The children, adolescents, and families served through RSP reside in DC's most impoverished neighborhoods with the highest rates of health disparities and exposure to chronic stressors. Participants will be low-income, minority families who have experienced trauma and/or traumatic loss (community violence, poverty, discrimination, incarceration loss, etc.). The project incorporates a dual individual and systems-level approach, allowing more children/adolescents to directly access treatment while equipping the systems in which they spend their time (their families, schools, communities) to provide supportive environments that promote emotional wellbeing and health. In addition to direct treatment services, RSP provides training on trauma-informed practices to school staff and community members who serve and interact with trauma-impacted young people. RSP will serve 50 new families annually for the first three years of the grant and 45 families annually for the final two years, reaching approximately 720 individuals. RSP will train 70-75 school personnel and 45-50 community members annually. Collectively, 1,320 individuals will be served over the life of the grant. The project goal is to increase the impact and reach of mental health services for low-income, minority DC children/adolescents and their families who are suffering the adverse consequences of exposure to trauma and/or traumatic loss through a holistic, community-based program of evidence-based interventions. Objectives include: 1) strengthen RSP infrastructure to provide accessible and effective services through the project's community-based, family-focused interventions; 2) provide 50 news families (years 1-3; 45 new families for Y4-5) impacted by trauma with access to evidence-based mental health services per year, with 70% of family members demonstrating decreased mental health symptoms, 65% increasing coping skills and functioning, and 65% improving family communication upon treatment completion; 3) expand the ability of schools and community members to meet the needs of trauma-impacted children/adolescents through the provision of training to 75 school personnel (68 for Y4-5) and 50 community members (45 for Y4-5) per project year' 4) effect systemic change to improve community understanding of, and response to, children/adolescents impacted by trauma through participation in 2-4 DC city council hearings and 20-25 additional relevant forums on a yearly basis; and 5) review and evaluate effectiveness of program and services in close collaboration with nctsn.