NCTSI III Grant For Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County, Inc. - Jewish Family Services (JFS) of Washtenaw County Michigan Caring for our Kids: Expanding Delivery of Trauma-Informed Care for Washtenaw County Youth Jewish Family Services (JFS) of Washtenaw County Michigan, an impactful non-profit behavioral mental health and supportive services agency, will deliver enhanced access to effective trauma- and grief-focused treatment and service systems for youth and their families, who are now or who have previously experienced traumatic events. Through the SAMHSA NO. SM-23-010 project--Caring for our Kids: Expanding Delivery of Trauma-Informed Care for Washtenaw County Youth-- JFS will increase capacity, raise the standard of care, and improve access to evidence-based services for Washtenaw County youth experiencing trauma. JFS also will raise awareness and experience with evidence based, trauma informed practices for youth serving behavioral therapists and school-based educators and increase awareness of, participation in, and access to, trauma and grief treatment and services for at-risk children, adolescents, and their families and those from diverse racial and ethnic communities. Currently reaching over 20,000 clients each year, JFS will support a minimum of 700 additional unduplicated youth and their families over five years including low-income individuals from diverse racial, ethnic, sexual and gender minority communities; and refugee and immigrant youth and families living with the trauma of forced migration. Approximately 60% of JFS’ current client population meets these criteria. JFS will increase capacity, raise the standard of care, and improve access to evidence-based services for Washtenaw County youth experiencing trauma. Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Eye Moment Desensitization and Reprocessing for Children and Adolescents, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy for Children, Child Centered Play Therapy, and Trauma Systems Therapy for Refugees (TST-R) will be delivered. It is expected that participants will experience improved symptoms of mental illness and an improvement in functioning as outlined in the GAD-7 with the adolescent PHQ-9, DSM-5 Parent/Guardian-Rated Level 1 Cross-Cutting Symptom Measure—Child Age 6–17, Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED) CHILD Version, Child and Adolescent Trauma Screen (CATS). Outcomes also include increased use of mental health support through JFS and their local schools and finally, improved feelings of connectedness and sense of belonging to schools among low-income individuals from diverse backgrounds, including recent refugees, immigrant youth and families.
