Project Grant H79SM091283

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded Duke University $8 million on September 30, 2026, under the Center for Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.532) to serve as the coordinating center for the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative network.

Duke will provide training and technical assistance to between 155,000 and 225,000 unduplicated individuals annually across all 50 U.S. states, tribes, territories, and the District of Columbia, with approximately 950,000 individuals trained across the full five-year performance period. Training and technical assistance recipients include professionals, providers, and peer supporters across child-serving systems such as health, mental health, schools, and justice; trainees and students; and family members and youth who have experienced traumatic events. Programming addresses implementation and sustainability of trauma-focused evidence-based practices, evaluation and continuous quality improvement, cross-system coordination, crisis response, prevention and early intervention, and workforce capacity building.

The National Center for Child Traumatic Stress will raise the standard of care for traumatized children and families and improve access to evidence-based treatment and services for children and youth experiencing trauma. Goals include increasing network capacity to prevent and reduce child traumatic stress through systematic identification and monitoring of emerging behavioral health threats; supporting and enhancing National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative functioning through collaborative network structure; and coordinating data collection, analysis, and reporting across network datasets.

Performance period runs through September 29, 2031, with work performed in Durham, North Carolina.