The Traumatic Stress Institute fosters the transformation of organizations and service systems to trauma-informed care (TIC) through the delivery of whole-system consultation, professional training, coaching, and research.

Clinical Support for Trauma Informed Care

Individual Case Consultation

TSI offers this service to treatment teams who are struggling with difficult clients and are making little clinical progress.

The consultation helps teams develop more effective and focused treatment by identifying the functions of the child’s behaviors and mapping strategies for future treatment.

The consultation explores both the history and the purpose of the child’s behavior, and suggests specific strategies to help the child learn to meet their needs in a more positive way. It helps the team remain hopeful and engaged by exploring the effect of the child’s behavior on them and developing self- and team-care strategies.

The consultation can be time-limited or ongoing. It can include meetings with interested parties such as child protective services and the child’s family to involve them in developing the next steps for a child. If a transition is planned to another level of care, the consultation can provide ideas to facilitate a smooth transition and decrease the likelihood of treatment disruption. For example, consultations provide concrete information to help foster parents prepare for a child’s arrival and be immediately effective in their parenting role.

Trauma Lens® Treatment Evaluation and Planning Guide

The Trauma Lens is a system used to plan and evaluate trauma-informed treatment for an individual child and/or family. It includes an analysis of the function of the child’s problem behavior in handling their intolerable feelings. Adult actions which can inadvertently reinforce and promote this behavior are identified, as well as those that can teach the child new strategies. Attention is paid to areas in which the child has made progress, as well as areas that have presented challenges. Goals and measurable objectives are provided to integrate a trauma framework into treatment planning and delivery, resulting in an organized, focused step-by-step approach and clear documentation of results. It will include suggestions for restorative learning and making amends and tasks which help the child in skill development. The evaluation will create a road map for future treatment interventions.

All evaluations include a face-to-face meeting with the child’s family and treatment team.

“We were experiencing some very scary behaviors from our clients. Consulting with TSI enabled us to deepen our understanding of our girls and design some concrete treatment strategies. They also cared what was happening to us — and helped us respond to our employees’ vicarious trauma.”

Marsha Esarey

Director

Maryhurst, Louisville, KY 

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