Dr. Joseph Spinazzola, Ph.D.
Foundation Trust
Dr. Spinazzola was formally Director of the Institute for Research, Evaluation & Inquiry (JRI-IRIE), Executive Director of the Trauma Center (TC-JRI), and Vice President of Behavioral Health and Trauma Services at Justice Resource Institute. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Richmont Graduate University and a member of the Forensic Panel. He has been the PI of multiple federal and foundation research, training, technical assistance and systems change grants, funded by agencies including OVC, CDC, SAMHSA-CMHS, SAMHSA-CSAP, AACAP, the Hunt Foundation and the Lookout Foundation.
From 2009-2017, Dr. Spinazzola was the Project Director of the Complex Trauma Treatment Network (CTTN), a SAMHSA-funded National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) Category II national training and technical assistance grant focused on leading spearheading large-scale statewide trauma-informed systems change initiatives involving multi-agency and multidisciplinary care continuum serving trauma-impacted children, families and communities. Through this initiative he oversaw 25 intensive regional learning communities in 14 U.S. states and 3 U.S. territories in the Northeast, South, Pacific Northwest, and Gulf Coast/Caribbean Basin involving nearly 1,000 state and community based agencies since the establishment of the CTTN in 2009. The combined training and technical assistance efforts of the CTTN reached over 40,000 multidisciplinary providers across over 30 U.S. states and territories. Prior to the establishment of the CTTN, Dr. Spinazzola was the Project Manager then Co-Director of the New England Trauma Services Network, a Category III community practice site of the NCTSN; he has been an active member of the NCTSN and his Center continuously funded across 4 competitive cycles since inception of the NCTSN in 2001. During that time, Dr. Spinazzola has served as a Steering Committee member of the NCTSN, was the Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Complex Trauma Workgroup, and is a longstanding member of several NCTSN workgroups, including the Data Operations and Publications Review Committees. In addition, he was the PI on a SAMHSA-funded grant examining the effects of psychological maltreatment in the Core Dataset of the NCTSN.
Dr. Spinazzola is lead PI on the current phase of the Developmental Trauma Disorder, a national multisite field trial examination the relationship between child and adolescent trauma exposure histories, diagnostic profiles and clinical risk indicators. He served as Co-PI on the first two-phases of this field trial along with Drs. Julian Ford and Bessel van der Kolk. Dr. Spinazzola previously served as PI on a CDC-funded research study examining causal pathways and violence prevention strategies with high-risk urban youth of color, and Project Director of a recently completed OVC National Action Partnership on multidisciplinary responses to polyvictimization and complex trauma.
Dr. Spinazzola has authored over three dozen peer-review journal articles as well as numerous book chapters on traumatic stress, violence and victimization. In addition, he has extensive experience with development, validation, evaluation, adaptation and dissemination of evidence-based tertiary prevention and clinical intervention models and treatment manuals for youth and adults. Dr. Spinazzola has directed two series of webinars (20 webinars total) for the NCTSN and OVC on complex trauma in children, adolescents and families and multidisciplinary response to polyvictimization of youth and adults. He is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Child and Adolescent Trauma, served as Guest Editor for a special issue on residential treatment of traumatized children and adolescents for the Journal of Family Violence. Dr. Spinazzola is a member of the Complex Trauma Taskforce of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, and is a co-author of the ISTSS Expert Consensus Treatment Guidelines for Complex PTSD in Adults as well as the forthcoming expanded expert guidelines on Complex PTSD treatment being developed as a joint project by Division 56 (Trauma Psychology) of the American Psychological Association and the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD).
From 2009-2017, Dr. Spinazzola was the Project Director of the Complex Trauma Treatment Network (CTTN), a SAMHSA-funded National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) Category II national training and technical assistance grant focused on leading spearheading large-scale statewide trauma-informed systems change initiatives involving multi-agency and multidisciplinary care continuum serving trauma-impacted children, families and communities. Through this initiative he oversaw 25 intensive regional learning communities in 14 U.S. states and 3 U.S. territories in the Northeast, South, Pacific Northwest, and Gulf Coast/Caribbean Basin involving nearly 1,000 state and community based agencies since the establishment of the CTTN in 2009. The combined training and technical assistance efforts of the CTTN reached over 40,000 multidisciplinary providers across over 30 U.S. states and territories. Prior to the establishment of the CTTN, Dr. Spinazzola was the Project Manager then Co-Director of the New England Trauma Services Network, a Category III community practice site of the NCTSN; he has been an active member of the NCTSN and his Center continuously funded across 4 competitive cycles since inception of the NCTSN in 2001. During that time, Dr. Spinazzola has served as a Steering Committee member of the NCTSN, was the Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Complex Trauma Workgroup, and is a longstanding member of several NCTSN workgroups, including the Data Operations and Publications Review Committees. In addition, he was the PI on a SAMHSA-funded grant examining the effects of psychological maltreatment in the Core Dataset of the NCTSN.
Dr. Spinazzola is lead PI on the current phase of the Developmental Trauma Disorder, a national multisite field trial examination the relationship between child and adolescent trauma exposure histories, diagnostic profiles and clinical risk indicators. He served as Co-PI on the first two-phases of this field trial along with Drs. Julian Ford and Bessel van der Kolk. Dr. Spinazzola previously served as PI on a CDC-funded research study examining causal pathways and violence prevention strategies with high-risk urban youth of color, and Project Director of a recently completed OVC National Action Partnership on multidisciplinary responses to polyvictimization and complex trauma.
Dr. Spinazzola has authored over three dozen peer-review journal articles as well as numerous book chapters on traumatic stress, violence and victimization. In addition, he has extensive experience with development, validation, evaluation, adaptation and dissemination of evidence-based tertiary prevention and clinical intervention models and treatment manuals for youth and adults. Dr. Spinazzola has directed two series of webinars (20 webinars total) for the NCTSN and OVC on complex trauma in children, adolescents and families and multidisciplinary response to polyvictimization of youth and adults. He is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Child and Adolescent Trauma, served as Guest Editor for a special issue on residential treatment of traumatized children and adolescents for the Journal of Family Violence. Dr. Spinazzola is a member of the Complex Trauma Taskforce of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, and is a co-author of the ISTSS Expert Consensus Treatment Guidelines for Complex PTSD in Adults as well as the forthcoming expanded expert guidelines on Complex PTSD treatment being developed as a joint project by Division 56 (Trauma Psychology) of the American Psychological Association and the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD).