Description
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2009 National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative Community Treatment and Services Centers grants. The purpose of this program is to improve treatment and services for children and adolescents in the United States who have experienced traumatic events. The initiative is designed to address child trauma issues by creating a national network of granteesthe National Child Traumatic Stress Networkthat work collaboratively to develop and promote effective community practices for children and adolescents exposed to a wide array of traumatic events The purpose of the Community Treatment and Services (CTS) Center grant program is to implement and evaluate effective trauma-focused and trauma-informed treatment and services in community settings and in youth-serving service systems and collaborate with other Network Centers on clinical issues, service approaches, policy, financing, and training issues. Community Treatment and Services Centers are a category (Category III) of cooperative agreements under SAMHSAs larger National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative (NCTSI). The purpose of the NCTSI is to improve treatment and services for all children and adolescents in the United States who have experienced traumatic events. The NCTSI Network is comprised of three types of Centers: 1. The National Center for Child Traumatic Stress (NCCTS) works with SAMHSA to develop and maintain the Network structure, coordinate collaborative Network activities, oversee resource development and dissemination, and coordinate national education and training efforts; 2. The Treatment and Service Adaptation (TSA) Centers provide national expertise on specific types of traumatic events, population groups and service systems, and support the specialized adaptation of effective treatment and service interventions for communities across the country; and 3. The Community Treatment and Services (CTS) Centers implement and evaluate effective trauma-focused and trauma-informed treatment and services in community settings and in youth-serving service systems and collaborate with other network centers on clinical issues, service approaches, policy, financing, and training issues. Community Treatment and Services (CTS) Centers are community-focused centers that promote the local use of trauma-informed practices and interventions for children and adolescents. Trauma-informed interventions include clinical treatments, services, and practices that intervene directly with children and their families or that address trauma by intervening with the professionals, organizations, and service systems that serve children who witness or experience traumatic events. Grants will be provided to community organizations or programs that primarily provide or support treatment and services in their community, or specialty child service settings, for children, adolescents, and their families who have experienced trauma. The overall goals of CTS Centers are to identify trauma-informed practices and interventions that address child trauma needs in their communities, to collaborate with TSA Centers that target similar priority areas, and to work with other community agencies to transform service delivery approaches so that trauma-informed practices and interventions take root within local community service systems. Grantees are expected to collaborate intensively within the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) for these purposes and for developing child traumatic stress-related products and services for nationwide dissemination. Community Treatment and Services (CTS) Centers is one of SAMHSAs services grant programs. SAMHSAs services grants are designed to address gaps in mental health treatment and/or to increase the ability of States, units of local government, American Indian/Alaska Native Tribes and tribal organizations, and community- and faith-based organizations to help specific populations or geographic areas with serious, emerging mental health problems. SAMHSA intends that its services grants result in the delivery of services as soon as possible after award. Service delivery should begin by the 4th month of the project at the latest. National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative Community Treatment and Services grants are authorized under Section 290hh-1 (42 U.S.C. 290hh-1)of the Public Health Service Act, as amended. This announcement addresses Healthy People 2010 focus area 18 (Mental Health and Mental Disorders).