Trauma Training

The Child Study Center’s Trauma Section provides a wide variety of training opportunities for professionals of many disciplines, with the common goals of increasing awareness of the impact on children and families of exposure to violence and other potentially traumatic events, and enhancing professionals’ capacity to respond to these children’s psychological needs.

Post-graduate Training for Clinicians

The section provides clinical training for child psychiatrists, child psychologists and clinical social workers in assessment, treatment and collaborative approaches to intervention with children and families affected by violence and other potentially traumatic events.  The Child Study Center’s Psychology and Psychiatry Fellowship programs and the Dept. of Psychiatry’s residency program, include a trauma training elective, which provides an opportunity for intensive training in trauma-related clinical and research work.  Clinical trainees participate in:

• Assessment of children’s trauma-related responses to episodes of violence,
• Brief and longer-term trauma-focused psychotherapy with children 0-18 and their families,
• Acute intervention with children and families affected by violence, as part of the Child Development-Community Policing Program, and
• Experiential and didactic training in principles and practices of community policing and strategies for police/mental health collaboration. 

Psychiatry residents

Child psychiatry residents participate in a 4 week seminar module on trauma treatment. In addition, the trauma section offers opportunities for child psychiatry residents to participate in an elective.

Medical students

An introduction to psychological trauma and principles of trauma treatment is provided to second year medical students.

Police officers

As part of the CD-CP Program, New Haven police officers of all ranks receive training on principles of child development, human functioning and responses to trauma.  This training is intended to provide officers with a foundation for their interactions with children and families in the course of their work.  Other professionals involved in the CD-CP Program, e.g., child protection workers, juvenile justice professionals, advocates and educators may participate in the seminars for police officers as well.

Representatives of other communities

Individualized training and consultation to facilitate replication of the Child Development-Community Policing Program and the Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention is provided to representatives of other communities interested in implementing these programs/intervention models.