BrooklynACTS2 will offer multiple evidence based practices (EBPs) to treat trauma in low income chilren and youth of color in Central Brooklyn. Building on The Family Center's (TFC) NYS-licensed mental health clinic, existing trauma program and 27-year history of serving NYC's most vulnerable families, BrooklynACTS2 adds new staff, EBPs, psychosocial support and cultural and language capacity to maximize impact of trauma treatment for diverse youth.
BrooklynACTS2 will serve chilren ages 3-21 with trauma symptoms and/or exposure who require additional supports and more highly skilled intervention due to complicating personal, familial and community characteristics. BrooklynACTS2 will serve Bedford Stuyvesant and surrounding Brooklyn neighborhoods characterized by high rates of poverty, community and family violence, unemployment, incarceration, substance abuse and mental illness and designated by HRSA as a medically underserved area. BrooklynACTS2 will serve African Americian, Afro-Caribbean and LatinX children, with a special focus on immigrant chilren and youth, including Unaccompanied Minors. The project expands TFC's capacity to serve chidlren whose ability to engage in and benefit from treatment is compromised by factors such as ongoing complex and/or ongoing intr-familial trauma; lack of parental involvement, including due to mental illness, substance use disorder and PTSD; and, particularly among immigrant families, cultural beliefs, practices and expectations. BrooklynACTS2 adds to existing capacity to deliver Trauma Focused-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), the most well-supported of current treatments for child Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and trauma, by addition of additional staff and providing skills enhancement training to all therapists, including in the use of Culturally Modified TF-CBT with immigrant families. BrooklynACTS2 also adds two new group EBPs, Structured Psychotherapy for Adolescents Responding to Chronic Stress (SPARCS) for teens 13-21 and Strengthening Family Coping Resources (SFCR) for families impacted by trauma. New interventions create multiple pathways for diverse youth and families to connect to and benefit from trauma treatment. Goal 1: Engage 408 unduplicated children and youth in evidence-based trauma treatment over the five year grant (56 in year 1 and 88 each year thereafter). Objectives: 1) 138 teens will engage in SPARCS, with 85% of enrollees completing; 2) 150 children/teens will engage in SFCR multi-family groups, with 85% of enrollees completing and 3) 208 children including 90 immigrant children, will engage in TF-CBT or CM TF-CBT with 88% of enrollees completing. Goal 2: Enhance retention in and impact of EBPs by adding psychosocial support for parents and ongoing professional development for staff. Objectives: 1) 190 families will receive care management services to overcome concrete barriers; 2) 98 parents will benefit from drop-in Peer-to-Peer groups, an additional component of SFCR; 3) achieve 90% fidelity in delivery of EBPs; and 4) 80% of enrolled children will experience significant symptom reduction.