ThriveKids Expanded (TKE): A regional model for trauma informed care for children and youth - Manning Family Children's proposes ThriveKids Expanded (TKE), a five-year initiative to expand trauma-informed, evidence-based mental health services for children and youth across Louisiana Department of Health Region 1 - Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines parishes. TKE will serve children and adolescents ages 5-18 through embedded clinicians in public schools, the New Orleans Juvenile Justice Intervention Center (JJIC), two outpatient clinics, and telehealth, reaching approximately 1,350 children and youth in direct clinical services and 1,000 families through care coordination and family engagement over the project period, while building regional capacity to identify and respond to childhood traumatic stress by training 375 behavioral health and related professionals in the region. Region 1 is home to an estimated 182,000 children under 18, a population marked by high rates of poverty and economic hardship; at least 80% of children TKE serves are expected to be Medicaid-eligible. Louisiana ranks fourth in the nation for children who have experienced at least one adverse childhood experience. TKE's population includes children affected by natural disasters, community violence, abuse, neglect, and traumatic bereavement presenting with PTSD, anxiety, depression, behavioral disorders, and impaired social functioning. TKE also serves systems-involved youth detained at the JJIC, of whom an estimated 50–75% have at least one diagnosable behavioral health disorder. TKE clinicians deliver evidence-based and evidence-informed trauma treatment matched to each child's developmental stage, trauma history, and setting, including Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Bounce Back, Trauma and Grief Component Therapy for Adolescents (TGCTA), Structured Psychotherapy for Adolescents Responding to Chronic Stress (SPARCS), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Integrative Treatment for Complex Trauma (ITCT), and Multi-Dimensional Grief Therapy (MGT). It further extends trauma-informed training to other Manning Family Children's health professionals at TKE's outpatient clinics and to partner-site staff at schools and the JJIC. TKE pursues four goals with measurable objectives: (1) increase access to and delivery of trauma-informed, evidence-based practices, serving approximately 250 youth at the JJIC, 600 children and youth in schools, and 500 children and youth through outpatient clinics and telehealth by the end of Year 5; (2) strengthen care coordination and family empowerment, engaging approximately 600 Jefferson Parish families through a dedicated Care Coordinator and 400 families across Region 1 through a Family Liaison; (3) reduce trauma-related symptoms, with at least 75% of children completing treatment demonstrating measurable symptom reduction and improved functioning; and (4) strengthen regional capacity to identify and respond to childhood traumatic stress, training 375 behavioral health and related professionals including primary care providers at TKE's outpatient clinics.
