Transition-Age Youth (TAY) are young people who are transitioning out of the child mental health system and into the adult mental health system. It can be a hard transition that requires strong engagement on the part of providers. This transition period requires strong trauma-informed approach. Trauma-informed care is an approach to practice that raises awareness of the impact of psychological trauma and how common it is in society. Trauma-informed engagement is particularly crucial during the transition period because many young people with histories of mental healthcare needs have been exposed to trauma, adversity, or toxic stress in childhood that directly contributed to their mental health conditions, but they’ve also experienced much adversity a result of their mental healthcare needs through such experiences as suicide attempts, harsh discipline, seclusion, homelessness, and domestic violence.
Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) is an approach to care that recognizes how widespread trauma and toxic stress can be in society and the long-term and profound effects it can have on people across the lifespan. The COVID-19 pandemic is a mass disaster event that underscores the need for TIC. The Community Technical Assistance Center (CTAC) of New York is committed to offering resources that help to address the universal experience of the pandemic, and also the unique needs of a variety of populations more vulnerable due to other factors.
What is Adoption Competency? Research has demonstrated that professionals often do not receive the training necessary to provide services that are tailored to meet the differing needs of adoptive and foster families. NTI is a free, state of the art training developed by the Center for Adoption Support and Education (C.A.S.E.) and funded through a Cooperative Agreement with the federal Children’s Bureau. NTI promises to fill the gap in knowledge that impacts mental health and child welfare professionals’ ability to effectively respond to these complex challenges. Learn more about this free, web-based resource and how it can be applied to help families flourish.
In April we are reminded to increase awareness and become active around a variety of key issues of safety and prevention. Here are some thoughts and suggestions about maintaining our focus on these areas during this time of social distance.
Motivational Interviewing is a powerful approach to supporting others that is naturally trauma-responsive. By emphasizing safety and trust, collaboration and empowerment or activation, the complimentary nature of these two frameworks emerge.
In its most basic definition resilience is the ability to adapt or recover from stress or challenge in a healthy manner. Many used to believe that people were either born resilient, or not. That the ability heal and recover in the face of adversity was an intrinsic trait. Happily, we now recognize that while there are some internal capacities to resilience, qualities that support a recovery over time can be grown, built, and supported in ourselves and others. Here are three fundamental ways to increase resilience in ourselves and others.
The Community Technical Assistance Center of NY (CTAC) is pleased to announce the launch of new self-learning modules on the foundations of trauma-informed care. Learn more about this new web-based series available to organizations throughout NYS at no cost.
We are moving through the season of gatherings, celebrations, rituals and ceremonial practices. It’s a time throughout the year that we may see family members and old friends we don’t see often. For some of us it’s a time of remembrance and deep wounds that were never healed, so moving through this season may bring about stress. So often during this season our good intentions fall short and we find our self-responding to the present from our past.
In trauma-responsiveness work, we talk about self-care a lot. Yet many practitioners, professionals, and caregivers struggle to commit to it in our own lives. Here we reflect on self-care and consider easy ways that we might build ourselves a workable plan -and support the self-care of others.
It was a simple statement: “She’s not white, she’s light skinned.” This seemingly simple statement opened important questions, observations, and opportunity to engage with colleagues, clients and families of diverse backgrounds in deeply meaningful ways. This post shares these insights and challenges us all to address systemic practices that undermine connection, and most importantly to foster brave spaces where all voices are used, all voices are heard, and all elicit responsive action.