UK Golisano Children’s shares in 5-year pediatric trauma grant to support providers, families

The Center for Pediatric Traumatic Stress (CPTS), a collaborative of mental health experts and resources from Golisano Children’s at UK, Nemours Children’s Health and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, received funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) for the next five years. 

“Millions of youth who have medical conditions also experience mental health symptoms, such as medical traumatic stress,” said Meghan Marsac, Ph.D., co-director of CPTS and the division chief of psychology at UK Golisano Children’s. “We are thrilled to continue CPTS’s work to support our youth with medical conditions and their families by providing evidence-based psychoeducational materials for families and trainings for healthcare professionals.”

With support from SAMHSA, the CPTS team aims to expand provider training and access, and support patients and their families. The goals include:

• Strengthen awareness, prevention of and responsiveness to traumatic stress among healthcare providers and systems across the U.S., while advancing trauma-informed care across healthcare systems and practices in collaboration with healthcare providers.
• Deepen expertise and enhance provider capacity within the mental health workforce to care for children with acute and chronic medical needs and their families.
• Disseminate traumatic stress psychosocial resources directly to families with children with acute and chronic medical needs, and ensure that patients and families have access to evidence-based resources and interventions addressing pediatric traumatic stress.  

CPTS will pursue these goals through training, digital resources and partnerships via HealthCareToolbox.org. Through the site, resources will be made available to at least 30,000 healthcare providers and 2,500 mental health providers. Additionally, CPTS will support at least 15 organizations with web-based training in trauma-informed care, promote a program aimed at decreasing healthcare provider burnout and stress and provide more than 100 healthcare systems with a validated trauma-based screening tool.

“This multipronged approach ensures a comprehensive impact on healthcare system infrastructure to improve access to trauma-informed services for children affected by medical traumatic stress,” said Marsac.

Founded in 2002 to address medical trauma in the lives of children and families, the mission of the CPTS is to mitigate traumatic stress in youth with medical conditions and their families by advancing the integration of trauma-informed care into healthcare settings using practical, evidence-based tools. Headquartered in three nationally ranked pediatric medical centers, CPTS provides extensive web-based resources, clinical interventions and training opportunities that healthcare and mental health providers across the nation can implement to support children and families.

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This project is supported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $593,363 with 100 percent funded by SAMHSA/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of or an endorsement by SAMHSA/HHS or the U.S. government. For more information, please visit samhsa.gov.