Trauma-Informed Support Services Project: Little Wound School - Summary: Little Wound School’s Trauma-Informed Support Services Project will serve Native American K-12 students by implementing a school-based, recovery-oriented system of mental and behavioral health counseling support to children and youth experiencing trauma. Services offered by the project include counseling, cultural mentorship, substance use interventions, and related training to students, school staff, families, and members of the community. Project Name: Trauma-Informed Support Services Project: Little Wound School Population Served: Native American (Lakota) students in grades K-12 residing on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and enrolled at Little Wound School (Kyle, South Dakota). Strategies and Interventions: This project will provide mental and behavioral health resources to children and youth who have experienced significant trauma. This includes both historical and contemporary traumas impacting the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the lowest income place in the United States. Services to address these traumas include the development of a collaborative partnership with Anpetu Luta Otipi, a reservation-based provider of substance use counseling and related services; screening and referral to specific resources provided by the project; development of a coordinated, long-term training plan for school-based staff, including teachers and administrators; development and implementation of a family and community engagement plan; establishment of a local interagency agreement to promote developmentally and culturally appropriate trauma-informed mental health services; implementation of cultural mentorship opportunities for students to promote Lakota self development; provision of cognitive behavioral therapy for clients; provision of internal family systems therapy for clients; and equine therapy. Project Goals and Objectives: The project’s three goals are (1) Expand access to evidence-based and culturally relevant trauma support for the targeted population by implementing school-based mental and behavioral health services; (2) decrease substance use and abuse in the target population by expanding access to culturally-informed, evidence-based treatment programs for Native American youth, and (3) increase the capacity of families of the target population and members of the community to recognize and intervene in trauma-induced negative behaviors and refer those individuals for additional services. Specific objectives align to these goals (objectives 1a and 1b, for example, align to goal 1). Topical summaries of the objectives content are: (1a) solicitation and informed consent collected from students’ legal guardians, (1b) provision of individual and small group counseling for children and youth identified at-risk for trauma- induced mental/behavioral health warning signs, (1c) universal prevention services and training for all students, (2a) rates of screening for substance use disorders, (2b) provision of individualized counseling for clients screened for substance use disorder, (3a) provision of trauma-informed subject training for parents, families, and community members, (3b) provision of substance use disorder prevention training for parents, families, and community members, and (3c) trauma-informed training for Little Wound School staff. Number of Individuals Served: This project will serve 1,480 unduplicated individuals throughout the five year project period (635 in year 1, 575 in year 2, and 135 each year in years 3 and 4) including children, youth, school staff members, and members of the community. As many participants will engage with the project each year, the total number of individuals engaged at least annually, over the entire grant period, will be 4,300 (duplicated number served).
