The Center for Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents

Contact Us Links Upcoming Presentations and Trainings About The Center's Founders Disclaimer Information about Childhood Traumatic Grief Center Research Activities The Center's Staff Judith Cohen, M.D. Bibliography Anthony Mannarino, Ph.D. Bibliography CTGWeb Order Book Interview
Welcome to the Center for Traumatic Stress
This site describes the services the Center provides, available resources, upcoming and/or recent presentations and trainings, both regionally and nationally; information on the Center's esteemed founders and their support staff, and the founders' experience and body of work in the areas of child abuse, child trauma, and bereavement.
Annie E. Casey Foundation Study
Judith Cohen, M.D. and Anthony Mannarino, Ph.D. have been awarded funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation for a two-year project entitled "Disseminating Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to Child Welfare Therapists: Web-Based Model." The study is intended to disseminate the TF-CBT Web-Based Model to child welfare therapists. These therapists will be engaged in the proces of developing the TF-CBT WebConsult course. At least four early focus groups will convene regarding course content, appearance, layout, and other features (e.g., determining whether the WebConsult course should be taken for Continuing Education Credits vs. WebMD format).

CTGWeb
We are pleased to announce the availability of a fresh, novel web-based learning course, CTGWeb. CTGWeb teaches mental health professionals familiar with the TF-CBTWeb course TF-CBT with cases of childhood traumatic grief. Like TF-CBTWeb, this course is free, too. To learn more, please click "CTGWeb" on the menu at the top of this page.

CTG Information for Military Families
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) has developed Childhood Traumatic Grief (CTG) educational materials for several consumer groups including parents, school personnel, mental health professionals, etc. but one cultural group's needs have not been adequately addressed, that of children of military famliies. This is an important gap to cover considering the fact that this group is currently experiencing a particularly high rate of traumatic loss. In response to the NCTSN's request for proposals in this regard, Judith Cohen, M.D. and Anthony Mannarino, Ph.D.were awarded funding to develop and/or adapt culturally competent educational materials to better serve children in military famliies who are experiencing Childhood Traumatic Grief (CTG). Intended audiences include surviving parents and other family members of children in military famlies who have experienced traumatic deaths; school personnel interacting with children in military families; and medical providers for children in military families. The link "CTG Information for Military Families" is now available through the NCTSN website. To access, go to NCTSNet.org.

In Other News
Sesame Street Workshop Materials
Judith Cohen, M.D. has consulted with Sesame Workshop on television specials, most notably "Talk, Listen, Connect TV" which addressed the difficult topic of children experiencing the death of a parent or loved one. The Sesame Street site contains bereavement resources that provide support to military and non-military families during this most difficult time. Just click on the bolded line above or go to www.sesameworkshop.org/grief for more information.

This page was last updated on 8.10.10.
  Allegheny General Hospital's Center for Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents serves children and families who experience traumatic or stressful events in their lives. This program provides prompt evaluation and treatment of children who have experienced a variety of traumatic life events, including abuse, witnessing violence, death of a family member and/or natural disasters. Major goals of the Center for Traumatic Stress are to alleviate serious symptoms and promote healthy coping responses in traumatized children and their families. The Center is the only one of its kind in the region.

  Center Highlights
Judith Cohen, M.D. and Anthony Mannarino, Ph.D. were awarded funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for their proposal entitled "Allegheny General Hospital Center for Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents" where they will continue as a NCTSN Treatment and Services Adaptation (TSA) Center. With their expertise in child abuse and child traumatic grief (CTG), they will adapt and disseminate trauma-focused CBT (TF-CBT) and abuse-focused CBT (AF-CBT) with a focus on enhancing resiliency for military children and for abused chlidren ages 8-17 years in residential treatment facilities (RTF). Goals will be to produce adapted TF-CBT and AF-CBT protocols and implementation materials . Drs. Cohen and Mannarino will continue to disseminiate TF-CBT and AF-CBT through training and consultation activities as well as develop information for parents about the physical impact of child abuse, create engagement products for parents of physically abused children, and provide information for community bereavement providers about childhood traumatic grief. The study starts October 1 and is funded for three years.

Drs. Cohen and Mannarino submitted a proposal to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania which has been officially funded effective March 1, 2010 for the next 16 months. Entitled "Dissemination of TF-CBT in residential treatment facilities in Pennsylvania," the aims of the study are to train clinicians in residential treatment facilities across Pennsylvania in TF-CBT and to measure outcomes in children.

Drs. Cohen and Mannarino, in collaboration with acclaimed researcher Esther Deblinger, Ph.D., are authors of the book Treating Trauma and Traumatic Grief in Children and Adolescents from Guilford Press. For more information, click to the "Order Book" tab at the top of this page.

Check out www.musc.edu/tfcbt, our web-based educational aid that trains mental health professionals in the use of trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT). Free CE credits are available as well. To get started, access the Links page.