June 27, 2017
Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) have come a long way in the last 30 years. We have added services and interventions based on solid research—evidence-based practices (EBPs)—all the while maintaining a passion for ensuring that these practices put children on a better path than before they came through our doors. Because the research has come so… Continue Reading
June 22, 2017
The American Counseling Association’s Traumatology Interest Network (2014) defines vicarious trauma as “the emotional residue from hearing other people’s trauma stories and becoming witness to the pain, fear, and terror the trauma survivor endured” (Network, 2014). Being witness to another’s pain can cause us to see the world differently. Individuals working with, and hearing the… Continue Reading
June 14, 2017
It’s no great surprise that much of our work in advocating for the well-being of children focuses on, well, the children—how to interact with them, how to help them manage stress and trauma, how to recognize symptoms and identify treatments. However, a large body of evidence shows that intervening with parents to strengthen parenting can… Continue Reading
November 3, 2016
NCA’s new Standards for Accredited Members call for an initial standardized mental health assessment and periodic re-assessment of children which serve to inform treatment. Every discussion about assessment (or screening) must be prefaced by a definition of what we are screening or assessing. Good practice dictates, and the Standards require, an assessment of other potential traumatic or abusive events,… Continue Reading
October 21, 2016
Six years ago, I sat in a room in Chicago with some of my staff, a funder, and a group of mental health providers, contemplating the dilemma we were facing and decided enough was enough. Since the opening of our Children’s Advocacy Center in 2001, we saw a persistent problem: there simply wasn’t enough mental… Continue Reading
September 27, 2016
Before I joined the NCA staff, I served as director of a Children’s Advocacy Center, as well as the Director of Behavioral Health for the umbrella agency which was a primary care clinic. As part of my duties to manage the treatment of children suffering from traumatic stress symptoms, I frequently conducted chart audits, and… Continue Reading
September 14, 2016
Mental health providers at Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) work with highly vulnerable children and youth: those who have experienced and/or witnessed abuse, neglect, homicide, domestic violence, and other interpersonal traumatic events. Many children are remarkably resilient, and some require treatment for their psychological and physical injuries. CACs face significant hurdles to helping these children. There… Continue Reading