The New York-Presbyterian Hospital Family PEACE Trauma Treatment Center (NYP FPTTC) in collaboration with the Northern Manhattan Perinatal Partnership (NMPP), and Nido de Esperanza Early Childhood Development Center will operate an NCTSN Category III program in the two contiguous Northern Manhattan communities of Washington Heights and Central Harlem. The population to be served will be 75% Latino, 20% African-American, 90% low-income, and 60% Spanish-speaking. Over the five-year contract period, the project will provide culturally responsive trauma-focused evidence-based treatment for 800 unduplicated persons and provide training for 2,000 local community organization staff, faith-based organization staff, and pediatric residents. The "Increasing Effectiveness of Early Childhood Evidence-Based Trauma Services in Communities of Color" project will serve families with a child age 0-5 exposed to a traumatic event. The primary forms of exposure to trauma in the early childhood population to be served are domestic violence, physical abuse, sexual abuse, crime victimization, immigrant-related trauma, and traumatic separation or loss.
Brief screens for adverse child experiences will be administered at NMPP and Nido de Esperanza with a bilingual Psychologist to provide in-depth trauma assessment at these sites. Eligible families will be offered evidence-based trauma-focused treatment at FPTTC using Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) for the caregiver/young child dyad. The project will support infrastructure improvement by providing an embedded structure for earlier identification of families with children age 0-5 who have been exposed to trauma, and earlier access to care.
Latinx families, particularly Spanish-speaking families, have not proportionately benefitted from initiatives seeking to provide improved access to trauma-informed evidence-based treatment for trauma-exposed children. Waitlists are longer for services in Spanish, and these families have poorer treatment retention and poorer clinical outcomes than other populations. The project will expand community capacity by utilizing bilingual therapists in CPP, and seek to improve retention and clinical outcomes by providing culturally responsive Group Healing support services that are aligned with local population needs. These services include a Spirituality Group and seek to overcome the oppressive effects of racism and colonialism with a focus on the development of positive cultural identities and the use of a framework developed from historical trauma, multigenerational trauma, and liberation psychology. The project will be a model for improving urban community capacity in Evidence-Based Practices (EBPs)that are developmentally appropriate, resilience-oriented, and spiritually sensitive, and therefore more effective in serving the specific needs of BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color) communities affected by traumatic events.The project’s measurable objectives are that, in comparison to FPTTC clients prior to the Covid crisis, project families will have 15% improved retention, and adult caregiver outcomes and child outcomes on standardized instruments will improve. Project products will include a Spirituality Group curriculum, a local community online platform on trauma-informed services, and a template for conducting client focus groups to increase organization cultural proficiency. The methods, content, and products of the culturally responsive Group Healing model will be disseminated by presentations through the NCTSN group structure.