Frequently Asked Questions
What is the National Child Traumatic Stress Network?
Established by Congress in 2000, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) is a collaboration of frontline providers, researchers, and families committed to raising the standard of care for children and families exposed to trauma while increasing access to services. The central mission of the NCTSN to improve access to care, treatment, and services for traumatized children and adolescents exposed to traumatic events. Combining knowledge of child development, expertise in the full range of child traumatic experiences, and dedication to evidence-based practices, the NCTSN changes the course of children’s lives by changing the course of their care.
What is the Complex Trauma Treatment Network?
The Complex Trauma Treatment Network (CTTN) is a Category II NCTSN Training Center established in 2009 to develop, adapt and disseminate evidence-based practices (EBPs) for children and adolescents impacted by complex trauma. CTTN will provides intensive training and technical assistance to transform systems of care in state and community agencies participating in one of 18 Learning Communities (LCs) across three geographical regions including the Northeast, Caribbean Basin, and Pacific Southwest. Over the course of a four year project period, the CTTN will train over 20,000 multidisciplinary child service providers on the impact, assessment diagnosis and treatment of complex trauma in at least 20 US states. This initiative will directly impact over 100,000 children and families nationwide.
What is a Learning Community?
A “Learning Community” (LC) is a group of programs, agencies, or systems with a common mission, population base, service sector, and/or area of interest / expertise. An LC is comprised of teams of people who work together to develop products, processes, or outcomes that are mutually beneficial. The LC makes use of the collective wisdom of the group to support project success, while minimizing burden to any one team of participants.
What are the goals of the Learning Communities
As described above, the primary mission of the CTTN is to support access to and quality of services to children, adolescents, and families impacted by complex trauma, as well as knowledge about this domain across service sectors. The goal is to develop products and processes that will support the flexible integration of trauma-informed practices across participating programs. Products to-be-developed may include training modules and curricula, as well as support for trauma-informed assessment and treatment-planning. In addition, each team will be supported in identifying and working toward individual agency goals.