Oswego county trauma-focused mental health services expansion project - the project within the child advocacy center of oswego county (CAC) will increase the capacity and access to trauma-focused…

Oswego county trauma-focused mental health services expansion project - the project within the child advocacy center of oswego county (CAC) will increase the capacity and access to trauma-focused mental health services to integrate evidence-based, best practice treatment and services for children(ages 4-12), adolescents (ages 13-17), and their families who experience or witness traumatic events in response to child sexual abuse, physical abuse, and trauma. Since 2013, oswego county, which is one of sixty-two counties in new york state and is a large rural area bordered to the north by lake ontario and spread over 951 square miles, has been towards the top of the state ranking in the number of child abuse disclosures per capita. The CAC through this project proposes four key activities to increase capacity and access to mental health services that will result in 730 clients receiving approximately 17,500 sessions of trauma-informed mental health services: 1. Enhancing capacity-building training and practice in evidence-based treatment in adapting trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) - target: 430 clients; 2. Implement problematic sexual behavior-cognitive behavioral therapy in adolescents treatment program into an evidence-based practice in addition to TF-CBT - target: 200 clients; 3. RE-establish and enhance "protect" (parents reaching out to engage, connect, and talk) group treatment model for non-offending parents and caregivers to focus on psychoeducation about keeping children safe, making healthy choices as caregivers, parenting skills and strategies, as well as how to handle disclosures of abuse from children, and repairing ruptures in the parent-child relationship - target: 100 clients; and 4. Reform and RE-establish the trauma response team with sustainable redundancy to help build team readiness to respond to traumatic events within the community. Through the implementation of this project, CAC will increase capacity and access to mental health services through evidence-based, best practices to not only help children survive from trauma but to go on to thrive.