Culturally relevant tiered trauma treatment - the culturally relevant tiered trauma treatment program will address trauma, ptsd and severe depression in school age black, indigenous, and people of…

Culturally relevant tiered trauma treatment - the culturally relevant tiered trauma treatment program will address trauma, ptsd and severe depression in school age black, indigenous, and people of color (bipoc) youth living in rhode island's diverse, high poverty urban core cities. This culturally relevant, community-based program will also engage and train the systems and the adults who care for youth in these communities including parents, mental health professionals and public systems. With 90% of urban core youth screening positive for one or more traumatic exposures in rhode island, this project will address an urgent need for increased access to effective trauma-focused treatment and services systems for children and adolescents and their families, particularly in communities of color that have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. The children and youth cabinet of rhode island (CYC) will serve as the lead intermediary organization for this project in partnership with licensed trauma-focused clinicians, implementation teams and evaluators affiliated with the providence center (TPC), brown university, and the culture and evidence based practice research center at depaul university. A key focus will be on understanding and addressing the mental health disparities of youth of immigrant, ethnic and linguistic minority backgrounds. Steam box, a youth-led nonprofit, will serve as an innovative youth engagement and outreach partner through podcasts, skills training and social-personal development and enrichment.CYC and its partners will implement two tier 2 evidence-based programs, cognitive behavioral intervention for trauma in schools (cbits) and act and adapt. We will also implement the tier 3 evidence-based therapeutic practice cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and disseminate trauma systems trainings based on the data from universal trauma screening. The program will engage public systems including schools, child welfare and juvenile justice agencies; recruit, train and build leadership pipelines for clinicians, artists and educators who are bipoc with shared lived experiences that mirror the student population; and create continuous consumer feedback loops to improve practice. Each year, the program will serve 275 children and youth in cbits, act and adapt and CBT programs, and train 450 parents, educators and mental health professionals. Altogether the program will serve 3,625 unduplicated individuals over five years tier 2 outcomes will include improvements in youth wellbeing and a reduction in ptsd symptoms among 80% of youth participants. Tier 3 outcomes will include improved indicators of overall mental health by 30% on average.