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February 2012Vol. 13, No. 1Advancing Practices on Trauma Intervention

A white paper by the National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children (TLC) highlights a developmental perspective and experiential approach to trauma-informed care.  

In Advancing Trauma-Informed Practices: Bringing Trauma-Informed, Resilience-focused Care to Children, Adolescents, Families, Schools, and Communities, William Steele and Caelan Kuban assert that trauma is induced by the experience of the situation rather than the situation itself. Because no one person experiences the same trauma identically, understanding how trauma is experienced is necessary for developing effective interventions and avoiding retrauma.

The brief discusses TLC's evidence-based Structured Sensory Interventions for Children, Adolescents and Parents (SITCAP®) programs, like the I Feel Better Now program, which are developmentally appropriate and focused on the common experiences associated with trauma—fear, terror, worry, hurt, anger, revenge, guilt/shame, feeling unsafe or powerless, etc. The treatment program is a set of interventions for 3–18 year olds, parents, and other adults that aims to reduce trauma symptoms and mental reactions through creating new, positive, and structured experiences that allow youth to "rework" the traumatic experience. More than 6,000 TLC Certified Trauma Specialists in schools and agencies across the country use the experienced-based intervention programs.  

One year after 100 multiply traumatized youth in second through fifth grades completed the I Feel Better Now program, parents reported that:

  • The child talked more and was more open with feelings (93 percent).
  • The child's self-esteem had improved (86 percent).
  • The child laughed more (71 percent).
  • The child stopped having nightmares (50 percent).

SITCAP® programs are now listed on the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse and the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Agency (SAMHSA) National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices (NREPP).

Advancing Trauma-Informed Practices: Bringing Trauma-Informed, Resilience-focused Care to Children, Adolescents, Families, Schools, and Communities, by William Steele and Caelan Kuban, is available at:

http://assets1.mytrainsite.com/500051/tlcwhitepaper.pdf (1 MB)