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Trauma-Informed Treatment for Disenfranchised Urban Children and Youth: An Open Trial

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Abstract

Community outreach and focus groups were conducted in an impoverished multi-cultural urban neighborhood to develop a local, culturally-sensitive and community-responsive adaptation of Greenwald’s (Child trauma handbook: A guide for helping trauma-exposed children and adolescents. Haworth, New York, 2005) phase model of trauma-informed treatment. Fifty-nine children with a wide range of presenting problems were referred for treatment. Outcomes included 87% retention rate of participants treated to successful termination, as well as clinically significant reduction of post-traumatic stress symptoms. This project demonstrates that hard-to-reach disenfranchised urban children can benefit from trauma-informed treatment when it is appropriately adapted and presented.

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Acknowledgment

This project was supported by a grant from the California Endowment.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Exeter, NH, USA

    Julie Becker

  2. Trauma Institute & Child Trauma Institute, P.O. Box 544, Greenfield, MA, 01302, USA

    Ricky Greenwald

  3. Phoenix, AZ, USA

    Cricket Mitchell

Authors
  1. Julie Becker
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  2. Ricky Greenwald
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  3. Cricket Mitchell
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ricky Greenwald.

Additional information

The first author was at Harmonium, Inc, San Diego, CA, at the time the project was implemented.

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Becker, J., Greenwald, R. & Mitchell, C. Trauma-Informed Treatment for Disenfranchised Urban Children and Youth: An Open Trial. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 28, 257–272 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-011-0230-4

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