Treatment for Traumatized Children, Youth, and Families

These resources help professionals identify and implement treatment programs to meet the needs of children, youth, and families affected by trauma.

Attachment, Regulation, and Competency (ARC)
Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute
Describes Attachment, Regulation, and Competency (ARC) as a framework for intervention with youth and families who have experienced multiple and/or prolonged traumatic stress.

Child Trauma Academy
Offers free online courses on several trauma-related topics as well as access to articles, videos, and other materials on working with traumatized children and youth.

The Children and Family Trauma Treatment Program (CFTTP) - A Children’s Outpatient Community Based Program
Washington County Mental Health Services, Inc.
Explains the trauma treatment approach for children, youth, and their families used by the Children's Outpatient Program of Washington County Mental Health Services.

Early Childhood Trauma (PDF - 180 KB)
National Child Traumatic Stress Network (2010)
Discusses early childhood trauma and how it is unique. The factsheet discusses recognizing symptoms and behaviors associated with exposure to trauma, enhancing resilience in young children and families, and treatment options.

Interventions Addressing Child Exposure to Trauma: Part 1—Child Maltreatment (PDF - 533 KB)
Effective Health Care Program (2012)
Reviews psychosocial interventions for children exposed to trauma to create a framework that categorizes interventions used to address the negative impact of child maltreatment and family violence on children's well-being as either clinical-level or system-level in approach.

Parent/Caregiver Services
Children’s Crisis Treatment Center
Outlines a parenting program that works to strengthen a parent/caregiver's relationship with their child using play.

Programs & Services
Children’s Institute, Inc.
Describes a model of services that offer accessible, evidence-based, well-coordinated prevention, intervention, and treatment services for children and families who reside in high-need, low-resource communities. On this page find the publication, Programs and Services for Youth and Families (PDF - 2,570 KB).

Recognizing and Treating Child Traumatic Stress
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Outlines the signs of traumatic stress, its impact on children, treatment options, and how families and caregivers can help.

Setting the Bar Higher: What Information Do We Need to Establish the Effectiveness of Mental Health Interventions for Children With Complex Attachment-and Trauma-related Difficulties?(PDF - 420 KB)
Tarren-Sweeney (2013)
Clinical Child Psychology Psychiatry, 18(1)
Offers three recommendations to improve mental health interventions to children who have experienced complex trauma.

Trauma Assessment Pathway (TAP) Model
Chadwick Center for Children and Families, Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego
Offers a framework to build and sustain an assessment-based treatment program and provides a guide for individualized treatment for complexly traumatized children.

Trauma-Informed Approach and Trauma-Specific Interventions
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Provides summaries of trauma-specific interventions based upon psychosocial educational empowerment principles that have been used extensively in public system settings.

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