ASCF offers outpatient mental health therapy for children in the community with involvement in the child welfare system. Alongside a team of multidisciplinary trauma specialists, ASCF clinicians offer multi-informant and multimethod assessment to evaluate the impact of trauma across many areas of children’s functioning and develop comprehensive care plans to address the impact of trauma across multiple domains. ASCF providers utilize evidence-based, trauma-informed approaches that engage whole families in healing, including Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Youth who are active participants in ASCF’s mental health services are also eligible for ASCF’s Psychiatric Services, Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy, Care Coordination & Family Support, and Educational Support.
Program Requirements:
- Children/youth referred to ASCF’s Counseling Program must have current or prior child welfare involvement in Florida’s Circuit 12 (Sarasota, Desoto, and Manatee counties).
- ASCF providers strongly believe that healing from trauma occurs within relationships. As such, ASCF additionally requires that children in clinical services also have birth parents, family members, and/or caregivers who are actively working a case plan and/or are willing to attend and engage in weekly mental health sessions to learn about trauma, support children’s use of skills, and strengthen the caregiver-child relationship.
- For more information, please contact Chelsea Hernandez, LCSW, Clinical Director at ChelseaH@allstarchildren.org.
Therapeutic Models & Services Offered
ASCF is committed to utilizing evidence-based and trauma-informed approaches with each child and family seeking services at our center. The assessment and multidisciplinary care planning process is essential to understanding a child and family’s needs and strengths and for teaming with families to determine the most appropriate interventions. Current research points to the powerful role of consistent, supportive caregiving in children’s recovery from trauma. As such, many evidence-based treatments for trauma utilized at ASCF require significant caregiver (current and prior) participation and involvement.
[MS1] (Kinniburgh, Blaustein, & Spinazzola, 2005)
ARC was developed by Margaret Blaustein, Ph.D., and Kristine Kinniburgh, LCSW, at the Trauma Center at the Justice Resource Institute (JRI) in Boston (see https://arcframework.org/). The model is used to address the varied and complicated needs of children and families impacted by complex trauma that many children in foster care experience. There has been considerable research into how complex trauma impacts children and families, as well as into what should be the core targets of intervention for these children. ARC is grounded in this theoretical and research literature and draws on the fields of trauma, attachment, child development, and resiliency. The ARC framework identifies 3 core domains of intervention (i.e., attachment, self-regulation, and competency) and the intervention focuses on building up child and family skills in each of these areas.
Miller & Rollnick, 2013
Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a client-centered, collaborative counseling approach that helps individuals explore and resolve ambivalence about behavior change. Developed by William R. Miller and Stephen Rollnick, it is designed to enhance intrinsic motivation by addressing the individual’s uncertainties and encouraging self-reflection. MI operates on the principles of empathy, respect, and non-judgment, aiming to create a supportive environment where clients feel empowered to make decisions about change. Key techniques include open-ended questions, affirmations, reflective listening, and summarizing (often referred to as OARS), which foster a constructive and non-confrontational dialogue. ASCF clinicians utilize the four processes of MI, engaging, focusing, evoking, and planning, to structure clinical sessions, team meetings, consultations, and supervision.
Purvis, Cross, & Sunshine, 2007
Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) is an attachment-based, trauma-informed therapeutic approach designed to help children and adults who have experienced relational trauma or adversity. It focuses on building trust, fostering connection, and promoting healthy relationships through three key principles. The first principle, empowering, focuses on meeting the physical and emotional needs of individuals to help them feel safe and regulated. The second principle, connecting, uses nurture, attunement, and responsive interactions to foster emotional security in children. The final principle, correcting, teaches and guides individuals in ways that help them make better choices while maintaining a compassionate and understanding approach. TBRI aims to improve behavior, emotional regulation, and relationships by addressing the root causes of behavioral issues, especially those arising from past trauma.
Mannarino, Cohen, & Deblinger, 2006
TF-CBT is an evidence-based therapy modality developed by doctors Anthony Mannarino, Judith Cohen, and Esther Deblinger to help children and adolescents recover after trauma (see www.tfcbt.org ). With over 25 years’ worth of research and randomized controlled trials in U.S., Europe, and Africa, TF-CBT is a structured short-term treatment model that effectively improves a range of trauma-related outcomes in 8-25 sessions with the child/adolescent and caregiver. This conjoint child and caregiver psychotherapy model is a components-based hybrid treatment model that incorporates trauma-sensitive interventions with cognitive behavioral, family, and humanistic principles. TF-CBT is a top-down[MS3] , cognitive approach that can be helpful to utilize for children who can talk through their trauma histories.
Shapiro, 2017
EMDR is a psychotherapy treatment created by Dr. Francine Shapiro to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories. This therapy enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress of trauma by participating in an eight-phase treatment approach. Within therapy sessions, clients relive traumatic or triggering experiences in brief doses while the therapist directs the client’s eye movements, or other bilateral stimulation. Rapid, rhythmic eye movements (or other dual attention stimulation) are used throughout the course of treatment. This specialized technique in EMDR works to allow the brain to resume its natural healing process without the need to talk in detail about the directing issue or completing homework between sessions. Over time, the technique has been observed to lessen the impact that the traumatic memories or thoughts have on a client. This bottom-up[MS4] , brain-based approach can be helpful in treating clients with developmental trauma or for clients who have been hesitant to engage in traditional talk therapies.
PCIT; Eyberg & Funderburk, 2016
PCIT is one of the strongest evidence-based interventions known for young children between the ages of 2 and 6 with disruptive behaviors, such as aggression, noncompliance, inattention, hyperactivity, irritability, and rule-breaking behavior. It has been used successfully to teach positive, appropriate parenting practices among caregivers at risk for harsh or abusive parenting. PCIT is used with children with trauma histories to improve the caregiver-child attachment relationship, enhance the child’s sense of psychological safety, and improve emotional and behavioral regulation. This intervention is conducted through “coaching sessions” that target improvement of caregiver-child relationships and caregivers’ ability to communicate clear and consistent expectations and consequences to their children. PCIT is used all over the world and has been adapted for use in a variety of cultures, languages, and settings.
ASCF Clinicians are trained and certified in various other evidence-based interventions for childhood trauma and mental health issues. Through the assessment, Care/Treatment Planning, and multidisciplinary teaming process, clinicians will work with you, your child, and his or her birth family collaboratively to identify the most appropriate fit of intervention for your child’s needs.
