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The Early Childhood Trauma Collaborative (ECTC) is a 5-year, $2 million grant awarded to CHDI in 2016 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to extend trauma-focused services to young children in Connecticut.
Children are exposed to trauma, including physical abuse, sexual abuse, chronic neglect, serious accident or illness, loss of a caregiver, and other forms of trauma at alarming rates. Traumatic stress compromises a young child’s growth and brain development. If left untreated, it is associated with poorer lifelong outcomes including chronic health and mental health problems, impaired academic performance, and involvement with juvenile justice and adult criminal justice systems.
The Early Childhood Trauma Collaborative will also be part of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), a federal network of 81 SAMHSA funded members and over a hundred affiliates working to raise the standard of care and improve access to services for traumatized children, their families and communities throughout the United States.
For the past 10 years, CHDI has partnered with state agencies and community-based mental health providers to disseminate and sustain children’s behavioral health evidence-based practices and has helped Connecticut develop a robust system of trauma-informed care and services for school-aged children. This grant will expand upon that work by developing a system of trauma-informed care and treatment options for children under the age of seven.
Download a fact sheet on the ECTC.
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Jason Lang - Vice President for Mental Health Initiatives jalang@uchc.edu 860-679-1550 |
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Kellie Randall - Senior Associate randall@uchc.edu 860-679-8098 |
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Tiffany Franceschetti - Senior Project Coordinator franceschetti@uchc.edu 860-679-8064 |