Building a System of Trauma-Informed Early Childhood Professionals

 

Project Description:

This project will provide preliminary evidence to support the use of CARE with a wide range of early childhood professionals and identify concrete, community-driven solutions to support a state-wide, trauma-informed early childhood system.

 

Abstract:

A significant gap in addressing the known effects of early trauma on children’s physical, emotional, and cognitive health development continues to be the lack of training, coordination, and collaboration across systems that interact with young children and their families. While one in six Utah children have experienced two or more adverse childhood experiences, including abuse and witnessing violence, and high rates of poverty and intergenerational poverty persist among children ages birth to five years, there remains a limited understanding of early childhood mental health and trauma-informed care among providers (such as physicians and school leaders), parents, and the general population. Trauma-informed trainings are a common element of trauma-informed systems, as they help establish a common language and understanding of the impact of trauma on children’s health and development. Currently, there have been no systematic efforts to implement or evaluate trauma-informed training across the Utah early childhood system. In the absence of such efforts, developing a comprehensive system of early childhood mental health professionals in Utah will remain difficult. Our long-term goal is to enhance screening, referral, and treatment of traumatized young children from birth through five years by developing a comprehensive state-wide system of trauma-informed early childhood providers. Our short-term goal is to determine the effects of an evidence-based trauma-informed training, the Child-Adult Relationship Enhancement (CARE) training, on trauma-informed attitudes and cross-system collaboration in a diverse group of early childhood professionals from Salt Lake County. The current project will also evaluate the additive effects of technical assistance following the CARE training with a cohort of providers to determine the feasibility and utility of implementing this component statewide. This project will provide preliminary evidence to support the use of CARE with a wide range of early childhood professionals and identify concrete, community-driven solutions to support a state-wide, trauma-informed early childhood system.

 

Outcomes:

Project currently in progress.

 

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