The National Child 

Traumatic Stress Initiative: 

Helping Kids Recover and Thrive
The mission of NCTSI is to transform mental health care 

for children, adolescents, and families affected by trauma 

throughout the country by improving the quality of 

community-based trauma treatment and services and 

increasing access to effective trauma-focused interventions. 
ABOUT CHILD TRAUMATIC STRESS 

Many children and adolescents experience traumatic events. 

These events may include: 

} Neglect 

} Psychological, physical, or sexual abuse 

} Natural disasters or terrorism 

} Witnessing or experiencing domestic violence 

} Community or school violence 

} Physical or sexual assault 

} Commercial sexual exploitation 

} Sudden or violent loss of a loved one 

} Refugee or war experiences 

} Serious accidents or life-threatening illness 

} Military family-related stressors (e.g., deployment, 

parental loss, or injury) 

THERE IS HOPE 

Children can and do recover from traumatic 

events. Effective treatments and interventions 

exist to help children, adolescents, and their 

families recover and thrive. 
 

 

IMPACT OF TRAUMA 

In many cases, children may have experienced complex trauma or 

exposure to multiple or repeated traumatic events. This exposure 

may have wide-ranging, long-term impacts. 

The impact of unrecognized child traumatic stress can last well 

beyond childhood. In fact, research has shown that child trauma 

survivors may experience: 

} Learning problems, including lower grades and more 

suspensions and expulsions 

} Increased use of health and mental health services 

} Increased involvement with the child welfare and juvenile 

justice systems 

} Long-term health problems (e.g., diabetes and heart disease) 

THE NATIONAL CHILD TRAUMATIC STRESS ABOUT INITIATIVE (NCTSI) 

Recognizing the serious mental health impact that traumatic events can 

have on children, adolescents, and families, Congress authorized the 

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) 

to develop a national program to focus on child and adolescent trauma. 

A national program named the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative 

(NCTSI) was created under the Children’s Health Act of 2000. 

SAMHSA’s NCTSI accomplishes its goals by funding grantees that 

make up a national network of intervention developers, implementers, 

and service providers who work collaboratively to promote effective 

community practices for children, adolescents, and families affected 

by trauma. This is known as the National Child Traumatic Stress 

Network (NCTSN). 

The NCTSN collaborates with key child-serving systems and their 

leaders at the federal, state, and local levels to address the impact 

of childhood traumatic stress nationwide. 

NCTSI grantees work with established systems of care including the health, 

mental health, education, law enforcement, child welfare, juvenile justice, 

and military family service systems to ensure that there is a comprehensive, 

trauma-informed continuum of accessible care. 

Network-supported, evidence-based interventions, products, and tools 

are used in each of these settings and systems to better assist children 

and families. 
 

A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH 

To further the development and dissemination of 

evidence-based clinical intervention systems, NCTSI, through 

the work of the NCTSN, leads a collaborative structure of experts 

comprised of SAMHSA representatives and four distinct groups of 

grantees and stakeholders: 

} The National Center for Child Traumatic Stress works to 

promote leadership and collaboration across the NCTSN and 

disseminates NCTSN program and intervention products. 

} Treatment and Service Adaptation centers identify, develop, 

support, and improve treatment approaches for different types 

of childhood trauma. 

} Community Treatment and Services centers provide and evaluate 

the effectiveness of trauma treatment and services in community 

and service system settings. 

} Affiliate members, made up of 120 formerly-funded NCTSN 

members that continue to contribute to the national mission 

and ongoing work in their states and local communities. 

The NCTSN also includes family and youth representatives 

on national workgroups, grantee advisory boards, and the 

Network’s youth task force. 

SAMHSA’s NCTSN has trained more than 

one million health professionals. 

Funded grant sites have provided 

evidence-based treatment to 

hundreds of thousands of 

children, adolescents, and 

families nationwide.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT: 

THE NATIONAL CHILD TRAUMATIC STRESS INITIATIVE, 

visit http://www.samhsa.gov/child-trauma 

or call (240) 276-1880 

THE SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH 

SERVICES ADMINISTRATION, 

visit http://www.samhsa.gov 

or call (877) SAMHSA-7 

THE NATIONAL CHILD TRAUMATIC STRESS NETWORK, 

visit http://www.nctsn.org 

SMA-15-4922 Printed 2015