National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative National Center for Child Traumatic Stress

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services is accepting applications for a fiscal year (FY) 2009 National Center for Child Traumatic Stress grant in the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative grant program. The purpose of the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative grant program is to improve treatment and services for children and adolescents who have experienced traumatic events and to increase access to these treatments and services throughout the United States. The initiative is designed to address child trauma issues by creating a national Network of grantees—the National Child Traumatic Stress Network—that work collaboratively to develop and promote effective community practices for children and adolescents exposed to a wide array of traumatic events. The role of the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress (NCCTS) is to provide leadership, infrastructure, and support for the Network to achieve its goals of increasing access and raising the standard of care for traumatized children, adolescents, and their families. The National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative -National Center for Child Traumatic Stress is one of SAMHSA’s infrastructure grant programs. SAMHSA’s Infrastructure Grants support an array of activities to help the grantee build a solid foundation for delivering and sustaining effective mental health services. SAMHSA recognizes that each applicant will start from a unique point in developing infrastructure and will serve populations/communities with specific needs. Awardees may pursue diverse strategies and methods to achieve their infrastructure development and capacity expansion goals. Successful applicants will provide a coherent and detailed conceptual “roadmap” of the process by which they have assessed or intend to assess service system needs and plan/implement infrastructure development strategies that meet those needs. The plan put forward in the grant application must show the linkages among needs, the proposed infrastructure development strategy, and increased system capacity that will enhance and sustain effective programs and services. As of April 2008, approximately 1.64 million men and women have been deployed to serve in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) in support of the Global War on Terror. Individuals returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are at increased risk for suffering post-traumatic stress and other related disorders. Experts estimate that up to one-third of returning veterans will need mental health and/or substance abuse treatment and related services. In addition, the family members of returning veterans have an increased need for related support services. To address these concerns, SAMHSA strongly encourages all applicants to consider the unique needs of returning veterans and their families in developing their proposed project. National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative -National Center for Child Traumatic Stress grants are authorized under Section 582 of the Public Health Service Act, as amended. This announcement addresses Healthy People 2010 focus area 18 (Mental Health and Mental Disorders).