Rural trauma treatment implementation and adaptation center - the north carolina youth violence prevention center (NC-YVPC) will establish the rural trauma treatment implementation and adaptation…

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded the NC Youth Violence Prevention Center $600,000 on September 30, 2026, under the Center for Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.532) to establish the Rural Trauma Treatment Implementation and Adaptation Center.

NC-YVPC will disseminate virtual training, consultation, fidelity monitoring, and implementation tools for Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Bounce Back, trauma narrative work, and trauma-informed services to rural, frontier, and behavioral health workforce-shortage communities across the United States. The center targets the national rural child-serving behavioral health workforce—clinicians, supervisors, school mental health providers, Child Advocacy Center clinicians, community mental health therapists, juvenile justice and child welfare partners, peer and family support staff, and agency implementation leaders—who work in isolation with limited supervision and advanced training resources. Rural Southeastern North Carolina will serve as a field laboratory for development, testing, feedback, and continuous quality improvement. The ultimate beneficiaries are rural children, youth, and families aged 5–18 with trauma exposure and related needs including post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression, grief, dysregulation, school impairment, behavior problems, caregiver stress, and system involvement.

Performance occurs in Lumberton, North Carolina. The period of performance runs from September 30, 2026, through September 29, 2031.

Rural trauma treatment implementation and adaptation center - the north carolina youth violence prevention center (NC-YVPC) will establish the rural trauma treatment implementation and adaptation center to expand rural access to evidence-based child trauma treatment. The center will disseminate virtual training, consultation, fidelity, and implementation tools for TF-CBT, bounce back, trauma narrative work, and trauma-informed services. The project will strengthen rural clinicians and agencies facing geographic isolation, workforce shortages, limited supervision, and implementation barriers. The grant will reach rural, frontier, and behavioral health workforce-shortage communities across the united states, with rural southeastern north carolina serving as a field laboratory for development, testing, feedback, and CQI. Rural communities experience high child trauma, violence exposure, poverty, family adversity, child welfare involvement, juvenile justice contact, and behavioral health need, while many lack clinicians trained to deliver trauma treatment with fidelity. Rural providers often work in small agencies with high turnover, limited supervision, few consultation resources, and limited advanced training in trauma narratives, caregiver engagement, and completion. The population of focus is the national rural child-serving behavioral health workforce: clinicians, supervisors, school mental health providers, CAC clinicians, community mental health therapists, juvenile justice and child welfare partners, peer and family support staff, and agency implementation leaders. Ultimate beneficiaries are rural children, youth, and families needing trauma services. When sites support direct services, the planned population will generally include ages 5-18 with trauma exposure and needs such as posttraumatic stress, anxiety, depression, grief, dysregulation, school impairment, behavior problems, caregiver stress, and system involvement. NC-YVPC will implement five strategies: (1) develop a rural TF-CBT and bounce back implementation toolkit with readiness, referral, caregiver engagement, fidelity, and sustainability resources; (2) create a trauma narrative training and fidelity toolkit to help clinicians introduce, pace, process, and complete narrative work safely and with fidelity; (3) launch a virtual training academy with modules, webinars, learning collaboratives, office hours, supervisor resources, and coaching; (4) integrate paint party and see-IT theater products for outreach, stigma reduction, psychoeducation, skill rehearsal, caregiver engagement, and youth readiness without replacing EBP elements; and (5) develop supervised virtual and AI-assisted supports, including role plays, mock cases, practice scenarios, prompts, fidelity decision trees, and CQI dashboards. Project goals are to: (1) adapt and disseminate rural implementation tools for TF-CBT and bounce back; (2) strengthen rural workforce capacity in trauma narrative readiness, pacing, fidelity, caregiver engagement, and completion; (3) expand scalable virtual training, consultation, and supports that reduce geographic barriers; and (4) evaluate implementation quality, fidelity, reach, acceptability, feasibility, and sustainability through data-driven CQI aligned with samhsa strategic priorities. Objectives are to complete a national rural implementation needs scan, convene advisory groups, launch the academy, and produce initial toolkits by the end of year 1; train at least 1,500 rural providers over five years; provide consultation to at least 40 rural organizations/teams; disseminate at least 12 products, curricula, tools, or training resources; reach at least 25,000 providers, families, or community members; demonstrate pre/post gains in provider knowledge, confidence, readiness, and narrative competence; and use quarterly CQI reviews to refine tools, strengthen fidelity, improve usability, and support sustainment.