Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative Community Treatment and Services

The purpose of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative (NCTSI) Community Treatment and Services (CTS) program is to improve the quality of trauma treatment and services for children, adolescents, and their families who experience or witness traumatic events; and to increase access to effective trauma-focused treatment and services for children and adolescents throughout the nation. The work of this initiative is carried out by a national network of grantees – the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) – that works collaboratively to develop and promote effective trauma treatment, services, and other resources for children, adolescents, and families exposed to an array of traumatic events. The NCTSN members collaborate with one another, and partner with systems of care where children, adolescents, and families who have experienced trauma receive services in their communities.

The NCTSI program seeks to address behavioral health disparities among racial and ethnic minorities by encouraging the implementation of strategies to decrease the differences in access, service use, and outcomes among the racial and ethnic minority populations served.

The CTS centers will use evidence-based and evidence-informed trauma interventions, products, and resources developed by the NCTSN that are appropriate to their service populations and service settings. CTS centers are expected to primarily use trauma interventions, products, and resources developed by the NCTSN that are appropriate to their populations and service settings.

SAMHSA’s grant funds must be used primarily to support allowable direct services. This includes the following types of activities:

• Provide outreach and other engagement strategies to increase participation in, and access to, trauma treatment and services; and prevention services for children, adolescents, and families who have experienced traumatic events.
• Provide direct trauma treatment and services (including screening, assessment, care management, therapy, and prevention) for diverse and at-risk children and adolescents. Treatment must be provided in outpatient, day treatment (including outreach-based services) or intensive outpatient, home-based or residential programs.
• Provide support for training of service providers, supervisors, and other staff at the grantee site in Network-developed structured trauma interventions. Such training can be virtual, on-site training, or participation in Network Learning Collaboratives.
• Provide training and/or services to populations of child-serving service systems, such as child welfare, child protective services, law enforcement and courts, and the juvenile justice system, on trauma-informed practices using the grantee’s own expertise or Network resources at the local, regional, or state levels.
• Collaborate with NCTSI-Category II Treatment and Service Adaptation (TSA) centers to develop, advance, or adapt interventions to improve engagement and outcomes for traumatized youth.
• Collaborate with practitioner organizations and/or state level service administrations to promote policies supporting the implementation of trauma-informed practices and services.
• Pilot NCTSN-developed best practice interventions and intervention products with appropriate service recipients and evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions and products.
• Develop evaluation methods to assess outcomes and impacts to improve child trauma treatment and services in the community or in youth-serving service systems, such as child welfare and juvenile justice.
• Enhance plans for sustainability of trauma efforts beyond SAMHSA grant funding.
• Promote SAMHSA’s efforts to reduce or eliminate the use of seclusion and restraint practices and ensure that these practices are used only when the safety of the client, other clients, or staff is in jeopardy.

Amount: $22,400,000 is available for 56 awards of up to $400,000 each. Project periods are for 5 years.

Eligibility: Domestic public and private nonprofit entities, including State and local governments, Federally recognized American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) tribes and tribal organizations, Urban Indian organizations, public or private universities and colleges, and community- and faith-based organizations.

Link: http://www.samhsa.gov/grants/grant-announcements/sm-16-005

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