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Module 3 Resources: Creating Trauma-Informed Provider Organizations

Websites and Online Materials

  1. The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study-Implications for Policy, Practice and Prevention. Webinar. September 12, 2013. National Conference on Child Abuse & Neglect. This webinar is part 3 of the “Making Connections” webinar series. This webinar focuses on how the groundbreaking ACE study will impact policy, practice, and trauma prevention.
  2. Breaking the Link Between Childhood Trauma and Suicide. Close to 200 people in Juneau joined forces Thursday to break the link between childhood trauma and suicide.
  3. Bright Ideas: A Youth Drop-In Center Embraces Trauma-Informed Care. National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth. A Resource of the Family and Youth Services Bureau. This website provides users with information on the program “Youth on Fire”, a drop-in center for homeless and street youth that has adopted trauma-informed interventions to reduce the progression of substance use, HIV, and hepatitis infections among their population.
  4. Caregivers - Portraits of Professional Caregivers. This documentary film, in production for release in 2015, will take us on a journey into a world the public has not seen. The film depicts the dramatic emotional costs experienced by professional providers such as doctors, nurses, social workers, firefighters, and first responders who rescue, assist, and when possible heal the injured and traumatized. Through dramatic stories, the documentary probes the emotionally risky aspects of professional caregivers.
  5. Central Iowa's Community Awareness Effort. Every day connections are far more important than we ever believed. Caring relationships can give children a great start. They can help people with a history of trauma heal. They can improve the health of our neighbors and the well-being of families.
  6. Child Welfare Trauma Training Toolkit (2013) 2nd Edition. The toolkit is designed to teach basic knowledge, skills, and values about working with children who are in the child welfare system and who have experienced traumatic stress. It also teaches how to use this knowledge to support children's safety, permanency, and well-being through case analysis and corresponding interventions tailored for them and their biological and resource families.
  7. Communities Need to Help Heal the Traumatized Juvenile Delinquent. If communities are ready to address juvenile delinquency in ways that best protects the community and offers the youth a healthy, productive future, then communities must agree to be part of the solution.
  8. Community Resilience Cookbook. When people learn about the ACE Study, they have a range of reactions, from sorrow to outrage to relief at having a framework—finally—that explains their own or others’ behavior. Then they ask, “What can I do?” This cookbook aims to answer that question. Whether you are the director of a YMCA, the head of a county health department, a sheriff, a school principal, a pediatrician or a parent, it will offer you context, definitions and questions to help you think about building resilience where you live. It will describe how communities in the United States and Canada are putting the theories of ACEs and resilience into practice.
  9. Creating Trauma-Informed Services Tipsheet Series. National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma & Mental Health. These tipsheets provide practical advice on creating trauma-informed services at domestic violence programs and working with survivors who are experiencing trauma symptoms and/or mental health conditions.
  10. The Dougy Center: The National Center for Grieving Children and Families. The Dougy Center provides support in a safe place where children, teens, young adults, and their families grieving a death can share their experiences. The Dougy Center provides support and training locally, nationally and internationally to individuals and organizations seeking to assist children in grief.
  11. Engaging Psychiatrists in Preventing Seclusion and Restraints Webinar.  This webinar provided by Elgin Mental Health Illinois, Dr. Malini Patel, Medical Director, Community Psychiatric Services and Dr. Dan Hardy, Medical Director, Forensic Treatment Program and Acting Medical Director for Illinois Department of Mental Health Forensic Services highlights how to engage your medical leadership and other senior management  for changing seclusion and restraint practices.
  12. Evaluation Brief: Trauma-Informed Care Training at Two Texas State Supported Living Centers. The report found evidence of a shift in the culture of care at both centers. Not only was the training successful in reducing the use of restraints, but staff members also cited reduced stress and more positive interactions with residents as a result of the training.
  13. #FightingACEs Initiative Incorporates Mental Health Counseling with Community Education to Combat the Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences. Center for Child Counseling (CfCC) has received a $200,000 grant from Quantum Foundation to expand services in Palm Beach County for families and caregivers struggling with “toxic stress” from Adverse Childhood Experiences in children.
  14. Fostering Futures Partner for Trauma-Informed Learning Community Initiative. Fostering Futures is a Wisconsin initiative championed by First Lady Tonette Walker. It was formed based on the belief that all Wisconsin children and families should have the tools to thrive in nurturing communities. In addition all individuals, communities and government should integrate trauma-informed and strength-based principles into their relationships, culture, policies and practices. That should ensure that every child will be in safe, stable and nurturing relationships.
  15. Fostering Relationships for Public Health. This audio story, from NPR's Latino USA, describes Wisconsin's efforts in integrating trauma-informed, resilience-building practices based on ACEs research. It focuses on Wisconsin First Lady Tonette Walker's Fostering Futures Initiative.
  16. From Coercion to Compassion: Ending Seclusion and Restraint. This article provides information and a link to SAMHSA’s new training DVD and “Roadmap” for helping end the practice of seclusion and restraint. SAMHSA experts have long understood that seclusion and restraint practices do not reduce trauma but exacerbate it. The agency is working to reduce and ultimately eliminate the use of these practices in institutional and community settings.
  17. Grafton Integrated Health Network – Comfort vs. Control Philosophy.  Available on this website are resources including a short video describing Grafton’s efforts to develop an organization that has moved  from a “controlling” philosophy to one that values “comfort” – helping people who are having a difficult time to get through that time without power struggles while keeping everyone safe.  Also at this website is a link to the approach that they developed called Ukeru, a safe, comforting and restraint-free crisis management technique developed by and for behavioral health caregivers and educators. Named for the Japanese word for receive, this award-winning program helps people engage, sense, and feel, and then respond to what someone is trying to communicate through their actions. Ukeru has helped behavioral health providers and schools reduce the use of restraint, seclusion, and injury, while lowering workers’ compensation costs and employee turnover.
  18. Greater Kansas City, Missouri: Learning to Listen. Trauma Matters Kansas City is a multi-system, bi-state (Missouri and Kansas) network that includes 40 organizations representing human services, health, criminal justice, law enforcement, education, government and community members.
  19. Grow Your Trauma-Informed Mind: Help Them Go For The Gold.  Number of people who have experienced multiple traumatic events and circumstances are not ready to hear the word “trauma”.How do we support them without sending her or him running out of our doors? Read how psychotherapist Cathy S. Harris deals with this situation. 
  20. Hanna Boys Host Trauma and Adversity Seminars. Following last year’s seminar on ACEs with expert Robert Anda, Hanna Boys Center has planned an extensive collaboration with an expert in the field of trauma and healing. Robert Macy will lead five workshops with topics on youth violence, relationship-building, and healing in the family and community.
  21. Head Start Early Childhood Learning and Resource Center. Early childhood mental health is a child's (birth to 5 years) growing ability to experience, regulate, and express emotions. They learn to develop close, secure relationships with peers and caring adults. Children begin to explore and learn from their surroundings, pay attention, and follow directions. Early childhood mental health is the same as social-emotional development. Head Start and Early Head Start programs partner with local professionals and other programs to ensure children, families, and staff have access to prevention and intervention services. The resources provided span several topics areas including screening and assessment, trauma, and education activities.
  22. Healthy Foster Care America. In partnership with the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and Jockey Being Family, the American Academy of Pediatrics has developed materials for pediatricians on how to support adoptive and foster families.
  23. HelpGuide. HelpGuide was started in 1999 by Robert and Jeanne Segal and it was dedicated to their daughter, Morgan Segal. They believe her tragic suicide could have been avoided if she had access to professional information that gave her help and hope. They wanted to create an online experience that empowers people to help themselves create better mental health.  During the last 16 years they have expanded and refined the website to stay on top of developments in the psychological, social, and medical sciences, both through their own research and via their collaboration with Harvard Health Publications.
  24. How Childhood Experiences Shape Our Nation's Health. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). New findings strongly suggest that Americans are ready for new approaches to address early childhood trauma and stress. To do that in a big way, we need more than science—we need a movement. The article outlines steps taken by the RWJF to create and strengthen the movement.
  25. How to Help a Young Person who has Witnesses Domestic Violence. National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth. A Resource of the Family and Youth Services Bureau. In this slideshow, Chris Newlin takes the audience through the intake process for a young person who has witnessed violence at home.
  26. Human Resources article indirectly discussing trauma symptoms. This article touches on how to be trauma-informed in the workplace without using the methodology or terminology usually seen in the field.
  27. Illinois: From Awareness to Action. The ACE Response Collaborative formed in 2011, when various research studies were showing mounting evidence that early adversity had long-term consequences for people’s health, behavior and socioeconomic status. The group now includes 34 members across a variety of disciplines. They use participatory processes to keep everyone engaged in the learning.
  28. Kanawha health officer announces new adverse childhood experiences online survey. The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department wants to look at some of the major reasons behind health related problems children face that could eventually lead to more serious issues during adulthood. Dr. Michael Brumage, the department’s executive director and health officer, announced Thursday the Adverse Childhood Experiences Survey that KCHD has made available through their website.
  29. Key Ingredients for Successful Trauma-Informed Care Implementation. Health care providers can address patients’ traumatic experiences and their associated health effects by implementing trauma-informed approaches to care. Changing organizational culture and clinical practice to reflect trauma-informed principles has the potential to improve patient engagement, treatment adherence, health outcomes, and provider and staff wellness. This brief outlines a practical implementation framework and policy considerations for instituting trauma-informed approaches to care in health care settings.
  30. Looking through the lens of trauma. The focus on trauma is stretching beyond the obvious applications now, many say, as communities realize how common trauma is and how much of an impact it has on their populations.
  31. Making the Link – Trauma & High-Needs Consumers. This online article provides an overview of trauma-informed care approaches and provides links to various models.
  32. Many Kids in Chicago's most violent areas live in 'survival mode'.  “Survival Mode” is a film that examines the psychological toll of gun violence on children growing up in Chicago’s most dangerous and neglected communities. Makers of the film called "Fault Lines Digital Team" interview several young people living in these neighborhoods and ask clinical psychologist Bradley Stolbach about the effect of the frequent violence on lives of traumatized children.
  33. Montana: ACEs are Us or The Brain Science is Undeniable.  According to KidsCount, a national agency that tracks child well-being in the U.S., Montana ranks 47th in child health. In 2013, for example, Montana had one of the highest teenage suicide rates in the nation. The same year Elevate Montana was created, a statewide initiative based on ACE-informed perspectives with the aim to boost the well-being and future of Montana’s children.  Ever since then, Montana has observed numerous life-changing transformations.
  34. National Center for Trauma-Informed Care and Alternatives to Seclusion and Restraint (NCTIC) – SAMHSA. NCTIC is a technical assistance center dedicated to building awareness of trauma-informed care and promoting the implementation of trauma-informed practices in programs and services. The center facilitates the adoption of trauma-informed environments in the delivery of a broad range of services including mental health, substance use, housing, vocational or employment support, domestic violence and victim assistance, and peer support. In all of these environments, NCTIC seeks to change the paradigm from one that asks, "What's wrong with you?" to one that asks, "What has happened to you?"
  35. National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). The National Child Traumatic Stress Network was established to improve access to care, treatment, and services for traumatized children and adolescents exposed to traumatic events.  
  36. The National Crittenton Foundation. The National Crittenton Foundation and the 27 members of the Crittenton family of agencies uses a social justice approach to support young girls and women at the margin to thrive, build skills, break destructive cycles and become powerful agents of personal and social change. At the core of our work is the mandate to address the profound impact of root causes, such as sexism, racism, poverty and violence in the lives of girls and young women.
  37. Pennsylvania Recovery and Resilience – Trauma-Informed Care for Children. The website provides details and resources for Pennsylvania’s statewide trauma-informed care initiative. It details the models and treatments they implemented to provide trauma-informed care and illustrates collaboration efforts.
  38. Phoenix-area leaders discuss solutions to childhood trauma. Nicole Stanton, the first lady of Phoenix and founder of the Dion Initiative for Child Well-Being and Bullying Prevention at Arizona State University, addressed a panel of business and government elites on how to handle adverse childhood experiences afflicting Arizona's youth.
  39. Practical Strategies for Creating Trauma-Informed Services and Organizations. Webinar Series. National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma & Mental Health. This webinar series builds on previous NCDVTMH webinars, which offered a framework for understanding trauma in the context of domestic violence and for responding to trauma in the lives of survivors and their children. This new series focuses on practical strategies and tools for creating accessible, culturally attuned, domestic violence- and trauma-informed services and organizations.
  40. Preventing Seclusion and Restraint among Children with Developmental Disorders Webinar. This webinar was presented on August 28, 2012 by Kim Sanders, Vice President at Grafton Integrated Health Network and Ari Ne'eman, President and Co-Founder of the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network.
  41. ProQOL.org. The ProQOL is the most commonly used measure of the negative and positive affects of helping others who experience suffering and trauma. The ProQOL has sub-scales for compassion satisfaction, burnout and compassion fatigue.
  42. Raising Resiliency: ACEs Response Toolkit. The purpose of this toolkit, developed by the Central Iowa ACEs Steering Committee, is to answer one of the most common questions asked when discussing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) or traumatic stress: “So, what do I do about it?" The toolkit provides resources for individuals and families and professionals and resources to strengthen communities and promote systematic change.
  43. Reducing Restraint and Seclusion: How to implement organizational change.  The feature article by Beth Caldwell and Janice LeBel, published in the March/April, 2010 issue of the Child Welfare League of America’s “Children’s Voice” describes some of the history of the movement to reduce seclusion and restraint along with some “do’s” and “don’ts” for organizations to consider.
  44. The NIDILRR-funded Rehabilitation Research and Training Center for Pathways to Positive Supports (Pathways RTC) has published Trauma-Informed Care, the latest issue in the Focal Point series. This issue introduces trauma-informed care, care based on the understanding that adverse childhood experiences are potentially traumatic events that can have negative, lasting effects on health and well-being. The articles describe the growing relevance of trauma-informed care in research, official policy, practice methods, and organizational structure.
  45. Risking Connection. Risking Connection® teaches a relational framework and skills for working with survivors of traumatic experiences. The focus is on relationship as healing, and on self-care for service providers.
  46. Roadmap to Resilience Toolkit, Version 1.0. Included in the toolkit are slogans, mission statements, an assets map to help identify the sectors in your community and at what level each organization is in becoming trauma-informed, a draft agenda for the steering committee, links to stories of what other communities have done, to state and city ACE surveys.  If you've recently started the journey toward implementing ACEs, trauma-informed and resilience building policies and practices in your town, city, county, state, or nation....or even if you're well underway...or, especially if you're stuck...this toolkit provides some handy guidance.  
  47. Safety and Well-Being Tipsheet Series. National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma & Mental Health. These tipsheets provide information on the ways that experiencing abuse can affect how we think, feel, and respond to other people and the world around us. The series also provides tips on how to seek support for yourself and how to help if someone you know is being abused.
  48. The Sanctuary Model represents a theory-based, trauma-informed, evidence-supported, whole culture approach that has a clear and structured methodology for creating or changing an organizational culture. The objective of such a change is to more effectively provide a cohesive context within which healing from psychological and social traumatic experience can be addressed. As an organizational culture intervention, it is designed to facilitate the development of structures, processes, and behaviors on the part of staff, clients and the community-as-a-whole that can counteract the biological, affective, cognitive, social, and existential wounds suffered by the victims of traumatic experience and extended exposure to adversity.
  49. Start Strong: Building Healthy Teen Relationships (Start Strong) is the largest initiative ever funded to prevent teen dating violence and abuse by teaching 11- to- 14-year-olds about healthy relationships. This innovative approach to prevention is rallying entire communities to promote healthy relationships and prevent teen dating violence in middle schools.
  50. There's an App for THAT?! Avoiding Burnout as a Human Service Provider. The “Provider Resilience” app addresses vicarious or secondary trauma as a critical component of trauma-informed practice. It gives health care providers tools to guard against burnout and compassion fatigue as they help service members, veterans, and their families.
  51. TIC Efforts in VA. This video created by Trish Mullen, highlights trauma-informed care action in Virginia including the importance of self-care.
  52. Trauma and Behavior Video Series – Discussion Guide for Resource Parents. Family & Children’s Resource Program. UNC School of Social Work. This guide provides links to videos regarding the impact of trauma and strategies to address trauma. This guide also provides a structured format for resource parents (foster, therapeutic foster, adoptive, and kinship parents) to discuss the videos in this series.
  53. Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk and his colleagues have published a number of articles on traumatic stress. Versions of these articles are available for download from the web. In addition, they have developed several products for clinicians, trauma survivors and their family and friends to help aid in the recovery process.
  54. Trauma-Informed Care Project. This website profiles the Trauma Informed Care Project that took place from June 10-12 2014 in Des Moines, Iowa. The website highlights resources and information about the impact of trauma, what trauma-informed care is, and how to become trauma-informed.
  55. Trauma-Informed Care Tip Sheets. Safe Start Center. This website provides links to tip sheets that discuss trauma-informed approaches for specific populations and settings. Information about how to interact with include youth, immigrant families, along with strategies for child welfare workers and early childhood providers can be found on this website.
  56. Trauma-Informed Primary Care Initiative. The National Council for Behavioral Health in partnership with and sponsored by Kaiser Permanente Community Benefit  provides an opportunity for primary care organizations to explore the degree to which the adoption of trauma sensitive screening, assessment and treatment practices will support primary care settings in their efforts to successfully support high need patients. Primary care organizations selected for this initiative will work to create organizational improvements including utilization of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study to help identify patients with a history of trauma/adverse life events.
  57. Trauma Institute and Child Trauma Institute (TI & CTI). TI & CTI provides therapy, training, consultation, information, and resources for those who work with trauma-exposed children, adolescents, and adults. TI & CTI also conducts research on trauma assessment and treatment, and on its own training programs. This web site is a resource for clinicians, researchers, and parents.
  58. The Trauma Stewardship Institute. The Trauma Stewardship Institute is an organization that provides keynote talks, organizational consulting, workshops, retreats, and disaster response. This organization has three expertise areas—raising awareness of the cumulative toll on individuals, organizations, institutions, movements, communities, and society as a whole as a result of being exposed to the suffering, crisis of trauma of humans, living beings or the planet itself; facilitating conversations on sympathetic oppression and liberation theory; and responding to acute trauma, whether individual or collective.
  59. The Trauma Stewardship Institute TEDTalk. The Ted Talk entitled “Beyond the Cliff” by Laura van Dernoot, author of Trauma Stewardship, provides a wonderful opportunity for those who have read the book to hear from the author.  For those who have not read the book, it provides an incentive to learn more about secondary traumatic stress. 
  60. The Traumatic Stress Institute. The Traumatic Stress Institute (TSI) of Klingberg Family Centers promotes excellence in trauma-informed services both within Klingberg and to organizations nationally and internationally who treat clients with histories of psychological trauma and attachment disruptions. TSI helps organizations foster trauma-sensitive treatment cultures, increase clinical expertise, achieve positive lasting results with difficult clients, and develop a stable and well-trained work force. TSI partners with organizations at many levels, including: whole system transformations to trauma-informed care; customized training and consultation on specific topics; and evaluation and consultation regarding the treatment of individual clients.
  61. Trauma Transformed: Connecting Communities with Compassionate Systems. Trauma Transformed is a regional center and clearinghouse in the Bay Area that promotes a trauma-informed system by providing trainings and policy guidance to systems of care professionals and organizations. The organization provides a list of tools for agencies to measure trauma-informed practice. Agencies can use the list to explore the existing trauma-informed agency or organizational tools that best match their needs.
  62. Trauma Treatment for Children. This blog discusses the theory and practice of trauma-informed and relationship-based treatment for children and adolescents, using the Restorative Approach.
  63. Understanding the Impact of Trauma in Developing Teen Pregnancy Prevention Programs for Tribal Youth. Webinar. January 29, 2013. The Family and Youth Services Bureau presented a webinar to help Tribal Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program grantees provide trauma-informed care. The link provides access to the webinar, the webinar transcript, and the presentation slides.
  64. Voices from the Field: Dr. Sandra Bloom on the Sanctuary Model. Dr. Sandra Bloom is one of the creators of the Sanctuary Model, an evidence-based practice that helps youth-serving programs address trauma experienced by their clients and their staff. Dr. Bloom spoke with NCFY about her program's origins and the importance of trauma-informed practice.
    1. VAWnet – National Online Resource Center on Violence Against Women. The resource library is home to thousands of materials on violence against women and related issues, with particular attention to its intersections with various forms of oppression.  Here you’ll find resources on domestic violence, sexual violence, funding, research, and international issues. You’ll also find news, announcements, and events related to the work of the movement and related fields of practice. VAWnet supports local, state, and national prevention and intervention strategies that enhance safety and well-being and address the self-identified needs and concerns of victims and survivors.
  65. What If Everything You Knew About Disciplining Kids Was Wrong? MotherJones.com Negative consequences, timeouts, and punishment just make bad behavior worse. But a new approach really works.
  66. Why Children Growing Up With Domestic Violence Struggle to Find Help Online. Most people have heard of physical child abuse, sexual or emotional abuse, losing a parent or caregiver to incarceration or divorce, and substance abuse in the home. But one childhood adversity has practically no awareness at all — Childhood Domestic Violence (CDV) — which is when a person grows up in a home living with domestic violence. This is partly because most don’t even know what to call it. This particular childhood adversity has never before had a name. And by not having a name for it, a person can’t know what to search and find the information to understand and learn about the impact or the resources available that could help. 
  67. Youth Mental Health First Aid. Youth Mental Health First Aid is a curriculum focused on helping youth (ages 12-18) who may be experiencing a mental health challenge or in a crisis. It is a public education program which introduces participants to the unique risk factors and warning signs of mental health problems in adolescents, builds understanding of the importance of early intervention, and most importantly – teaches individuals how to help a youth in crisis or experiencing a mental health or substance use challenge.  Mental Health First Aid uses role-playing and simulations to demonstrate how to assess a mental health crisis; select interventions and provide initial help; and connect young people to professional, peer, social, and self-help care. Mental Health First Aid USA worked with experts at the National Technical Assistance Center for Children’s Mental Health at the Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development to adapt the Australian youth manual for US audiences.

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Downloadable Documents

  1. 1-2-3 CARE – A Trauma – Sensitive Toolkit for Caregivers of Children (PDF, 6.2MB). Study after study documents the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on a person's health and brain development. Most recently, research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that the more ACEs people had, the higher their risk of suffering heart disease, diabetes or stroke as an adult — even if the trauma ended decades ago. For teachers, parents and day-care providers — or anyone else who cares for children with these kinds of experiences — the challenge of helping them just became a little more straightforward through a user-friendly "toolkit" developed by the Spokane Regional Health District that pulls together current research and offers resources and strategies.
  2. Advancing Trauma-Informed Practices: Bringing trauma-informed, resilience-focused care to children, adolescents, families, schools and communities. William Steele and Caelan Kuban. This white paper discusses how to bring trauma-informed practices into child-serving agencies and systems. This paper has three purposes—to define the primary experience of trauma in order to support trauma-informed care grounded in evidence based research, neuroscience, and the essential components of trauma-informed practices; to view trauma not only as a diagnostic category’ and to explain the importance of understanding the child’s experience within a trauma-informed context.
  3. Adverse Childhood Experiences in Maine II: Knowledge, Action, and Future Directions (PDF, 956KB). This report is produced for the Maine Resilience Building Network (MRBN), a statewide network founded in 2012. Prior to the MRBN’s founding, a research project was conducted in 2010 in the form of a survey sent out by the Maine Children’s Growth Council Health Accountability Team. The 2010 survey was sent to a convenience sample of Maine practitioners in mental health, education, medicine, and other disciplines. Participants (n = 352) shared their understanding of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the ACE Study. They shared how they work with ACEs and resilience professionally, and levels of intervention throughout the state. The results of the study were used to determine needs related to ACEs education and training.
  4. A Healthy Early Childhood Action Plan: Policies for a Lifetime of Well-being, 2015 (PDF, 6.3MB). The report by the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) highlights more than 40 policy target areas that are key to achieving national goals of reducing toxic stress and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and improving the lives of millions of children.
  5. Assessing Trauma in Individuals with ID (PDF 1,3KB). The presentation slides from a webinar by Brian D. Tallant, LPC, Aurora Mental Health Center, Aurora, CO, hosted by the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (December 2014), highlight the prevalence and severity of abuse and neglect for people who have intellectual disabilities, diagnostic overshadowing of trauma symptoms, sources of particular vulnerability, and tools that are used to assess trauma in individuals with IDD.  
  6. Bullies in the Block Area: The Early Childhood Origins of “Mean” Behavior (PDF, 675KB). This report summarizes the factors in early childhood that appear related to later bullying, and what can buffer these factors.
  7. Child Maltreatment in Military Families: A Factsheet for Providers (769KB). NCTSN. Military service is stressful: frequent moves, separation from family and support networks, lengthy absences of a parent, increased demands on at-home parents, the return of a service member with physical or mental wounds, and other transitions and events that are unique to military life. This factsheet offers providers information about military families, child maltreatment in the military, how the deployment affects the family, and what providers can do to support the military families they serve.
  8. Creating Cultures of Trauma-Informed Care (CCTIC): A Self-Assessment and Planning Protocol. Fallot RD, Harris M. July 2009. Community Connections. The CCTIC Self-Assessment and Planning Protocol is a system change model to transform an organization into one that is trauma-informed. This model is unique in that it uses client input to transform an organization’s services.
  9. Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach. This document from SAMHSA introduces a concept of trauma and offers a framework for how an organization, system, service sector can become trauma-informed. Includes a definition of trauma (the three "E's"), a definition of a trauma-informed approach (the four "R's"), 6 key principles, and 10 implementation domains.
  10. Creating Sanctuary for Trauma-Informed Care. Pennsylvania Child and Adolescent Service System Program (PA CASSP). March 2009, Volume 18, Number 1. This newsletter highlight how the Sanctuary model can transform agencies and organizations. Aspects of the Sanctuary model and its benefits to children, adolescents, and their families are discussed.
  11. CW360˚: Secondary Trauma and the Child Welfare Workforce. Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare. School of Social Work, University of Minnesota. Spring 2012. This edition of CW360 focuses on secondary trauma. First-hand accounts and information on how secondary trauma impacts workers and how it can be prevented is provided throughout the newsletter.
  12. CW360˚: Trauma-Informed Child Welfare Practice. Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare. School of Social Work, University of Minnesota. Winter 2013. This issue of CW360 focuses on trauma-informed practice for children and families involved in the child welfare system. This issue is divided into three sections—an overview of trauma and  trauma-informed child welfare systems, practices and models for implementing trauma-informed principles  in the child welfare system, and perspectives from the field.
  13. Early Childhood Adversity, Toxic Stress, and the Role of the Pediatrician: Translating Developmental Science Into Lifelong Health. From the American Academy of Pediatrics Policy Statement. Pediatrics, 2012;129(1):e224-e231. The authors discuss how pediatricians can play a role in addressing childhood adversity, including screening children and families and educating families about the dangers of long-term toxic stress.
  14. Evaluation Brief: Trauma-Informed Care Training at Two Texas State Supported Living Centers. The report found evidence of a shift in the culture of care at both centers. Not only was the training successful in reducing the use of restraints, but staff members also cited reduced stress and more positive interactions with residents as a result of the training.
  15. Facts on Traumatic Stress and Children with Developmental Disabilities. National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). Adapted Trauma Treatment Standards Work Group. 2004. This document highlights facts on traumatic stress in children with developmental disabilities, including incidence of trauma, special characteristics of the population that influence trauma, possible reasons of higher incidence of mental illness, suggestions for modifying evaluation and therapy for this population, special diagnostic considerations, and suggestions for therapy.
  16. Guide to Completing the Agency Self-Assessment for Trauma-Informed Care. The Agency Self-Assessment for Trauma-Informed Care is intended to be a tool to help organizations assess readiness to implement a trauma-informed approach. Honest and candid staff responses can benefit agencies by helping to identify opportunities for program and environmental change, assist in professional development planning, and can be used to inform organizational policy change.
  17. Helping Children and Youth Who Have Experienced Traumatic Events. SAMHSA. May 3, 2011. This short report discusses the prevalence of exposure to traumatic events among children and youth participating in two SAMHSA initiatives, the problems that trauma can cause, and available treatments that can help children and youth recover.
  18. Helping foster and adoptive families cope with trauma: a guide for pediatricians.  American Academy of Pediatrics. 2013. The purpose of this guide is to support adoptive and foster families by strengthening the abilities of pediatricians to: 1) identify traumatized children, 2) educate families about toxic stress and the possible biological, behavioral, and social manifestations of early childhood trauma, and 3) empower families to respond to their child’s behavior in a manner that acknowledges past trauma but promotes the learning of new, more adaptive reactions to stress.
  19. How to Manage Trauma - Infographic. National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare. This infographic defines trauma, highlights the prevalence of trauma, provides a checklist for trauma symptoms, and a list of helpful coping strategies. 
  20. It’s just good medicine: trauma-informed primary care. SAMHSA-HRSA Webinar, August 6, 2013. In this webinar, the presenters discuss the prevalence of adverse life experiences (ACEs) and their effect on a person’s physical and behavioral health, how ACEs affect’s an individual’s engagement and use of primary care services, how to integrate a trauma-informed care perspective using practical skills, and how to access and use trauma-informed tools designed for primary care settings.
  21. Moving from Evidence to Action. Domestic Violence Agencies and Shelters. The Safe Start Center Series on Children Expose to Violence. Issue Brief #5. This issue brief translates emerging research and program practices into action steps for providers to design and implement programs in domestic violence shelters and agencies. The goal is to build the capacity of domestic violence shelters and agencies to offer sensitive, timely, and appropriate interventions that enhance children’s safety, promote their resilience, and ensure their well-being.
  22. The NCTSN Resource List By Title (232KB) is an alphabetical listing of all products developed by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Each of the products listed is linked to provide easy access to all materials. The resource list was updated, and includes all NCTSN products developed through January 2015.
  23. Parenting after trauma: understanding your child's needs. A guide for foster and adoptive parents. American Academy of Pediatrics. 2013. This guide for foster and adoptive parents provides an overview of trauma - what it is, how it impacts children, their perceptions, and their relationships, and what parents can do.
  24. Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL) version 5, 2009. This link provides access to the ProQOL scale, the most commonly used measure of the negative and positive affects of helping others who experience suffering and trauma.
  25. Promoting Resilience and Reducing Secondary Trauma Among Child Welfare Staff – Participant Handbook. The Resilience Alliance. September 2011. The Resilience Alliance is a project undertaken by the Administration for Children’s Services-New York University Children’s Trauma Institute (ACS-NYU CTI) to mitigate the impact of secondary traumatic stress among child protective staff, and thereby increase staff resilience, optimism, self-care, social support and job satisfaction, and decrease stress reactivity, burnout and attrition. This is not a one-directional training provided to staff, but rather an intervention that is done in partnership with child welfare staff at all levels, from the front line to the senior leadership of the agency. The handbook provides handouts and exercise to help staff better manage the stress of child welfare work.
  26. Promoting Resilience and Reducing Secondary Trauma Among Child Welfare Staff – Training Manual. The Resilience Alliance. September 2011. This manual describes a project undertaken by the Administration for Children’s Services-New York University Children’s Trauma Institute (ACS-NYU CTI) to mitigate the impact of secondary traumatic stress among child protective staff in New York City. This manual provides the reader with information about the content of the intervention and the process in creating buy-in and support for this work. In addition to providing information about how this intervention was delivered in New York City, it provides suggestions about how it could be structured to meet the needs of child welfare systems that are smaller and/or structured differently. It also provides information about the tools used to collect data from staff, which helped make adjustments to the intervention and identify where and how the work was most effective.
  27. Risking Connection: A Training Curriculum for Working with Survivors of Childhood Abuse. Risking Connection is a theoretically sophisticated, accessible treatment and response framework guided by a manual. It helps providers develop optimally helpful resources to trauma survivors through a comprehensive contextual foundation for trauma informed services. The focus of the program on the impact of the work on the helping professional, and from teaching providers to understand and use their own reactions productively, supports decreased levels of stress and burnout for providers.
  28. The Sanctuary Model: A Restorative Approach for Human Services Organizations. Mirksy, L. (2010) March. EForum. International Institute for Restorative Practice. This document provides insights into the Sanctuary Model, a non-hierarchical, highly participatory, “trauma-informed and evidence-supported” operating system for human services organizations, which helps them function in a humane, democratic and socially responsible manner and thereby provide effective treatment for clients in a clinical setting.
  29. The Sanctuary Model of Organizational Change for Children’s Residential Treatment. Bloom SL (2005).Therapeutic Community: The International Journal for Therapeutic and Supportive Organizations 26(1): 65-81. This paper describes the Sanctuary Model® of organizational change as applied to children’s residential treatment, a trauma-informed method for creating or changing an organizational culture in order to more effectively provide a cohesive context within which healing from psychological and social traumatic experience can be addressed. The theoretical underpinnings of the model are addressed, with an emphasis on the parallel process nature of chronic stress as seen in the behavior of children and of staff, as well as the organization as a whole. A description of the process involved in creating a healthier therapeutic community is described.
  30. The Sanctuary Model of Trauma-Informed Organizational Change. Bloom SL and Sreedhar SY (2008). Reclaiming Children and Youth: From Trauma to Trust, 17(3): 48-53. This document describes the Sanctuary Model and its theoretical underpinnings. It highlights the importance of and need for a trauma-informed culture, what it means to be trauma-informed and how the Sanctuary Model S.E.L.F implementation tool can help organizations adopt a trauma-informed culture.
  31. Secondary Traumatic Stress. A Fact Sheet for Child-Serving Professionals. NCTSN. 2011. This fact sheet provides an overview of secondary traumatic stress, including what it is, who is at risk what the symptoms are, how to identify secondary traumatic stress, how to prevent it, and how to intervene.
  32. Shelter from the Storm: Trauma-Informed Care in Homelessness Services Settings (2MB). Hopper EK, Bassuk EL, Olivet J. 2010. The Open Health Services and Policy Journal. Research has shown that individuals who are homeless are likely to have experienced some form of previous trauma; homelessness itself can be viewed as a traumatic experience; and being homeless increases the risk of further victimization and retraumatization. Historically, homeless service settings have provided care to traumatized people without directly acknowledging or addressing the impact of trauma. As the field advances, providers in homeless service settings are beginning to realize the opportunity that they have to not only respond to the immediate crisis of homelessness, but to also contribute to the longer-term healing of these individuals. This paper explores the evidence base for Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) within homelessness service settings, including a review of quantitative and qualitative studies and other supporting literature.
  33. The System of Care Trauma-Informed Agency Assessment (TIAA)  (1 MB) is an in-depth, validated data-collection tool designed by dedicated family, youth and agency staff to identify areas of strength and pinpoint areas for improving trauma-informed service. It is designed to meet agencies and communities where they are at, and to build on established successes. TIAA data guides change according to each organization’s unique strengths and needs. The assessment can be adapted for single or multi-agency use and its language modified to suit agency norms. Programs can be added to it that reflect a full service array, e.g., multi‐systemic therapy, substance abuse, co‐occurring, or day treatment services.  Where data already exists on an environment’s physical and emotional safety, youth and family empowerment, trustworthiness, trauma competence or cultural competence, components of the TIAA can be used to enhance existing data collection.
  34. Toxic Stress and Trauma-Informed Pediatric Care. Gottlieb, E. Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Project (MCPAP). 2012. This document provides an overview of childhood toxic stress and trauma, how to provide trauma-informed pediatric care, and effective treatments for childhood adversity. The document also highlights the Massachusetts Child Trauma Project established by the Department of Children and Families. Its mission is to transform the child welfare system in Massachusetts by integrating trauma-informed and trauma-focused practices into child protective service delivery.
  35. Trauma & Resilience: An Adolescent Provider Toolkit. Adolescent Health Working Group. The five-module curriculum is designed for providers. Each module addresses a complexity of issues through accessible, user-friendly resources including screening and assessment tools, evidence-based best practices and promising approaches, and health education handouts for youth/young adults and parents/caregivers.
  36. Focal Point: Trauma-Informed Care (5 MB). This 2015 issue of Focal Point, a research review published annually by Pathways Research and Training Center at Portland University, focuses on trauma-informed care and its growing relevance in research, official policy, practice methods, and organizational structure.
  37. Trauma-Informed Care - Top Ten: A Checklist for Behavioral Health Organizations. National Council for Behavioral Health. This checklist helps organizations determine how committed they truly are to trauma-informed care.
  38. Trauma-Informed Organizational Toolkit for Homeless Services. Guarino, K., Soares, P., Konnath, K., Clervil, R., and Bassuk, E. (2009). Rockville, MD: Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the Daniels Fund, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The Trauma-Informed Organizational Toolkit provides programs with a roadmap for becoming trauma-informed. The Toolkit offers homeless service providers with concrete guidelines for how to modify their practices and policies to ensure that they are responding appropriately to the needs of families who have experienced traumatic stress. It includes a trauma-informed organizational self-assessment, a user’s guide, and a manual with concrete steps for organizations to become trauma-informed.

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Additional References

  1. Helping Traumatized Families. The new edition offers clinicians a unified, evidence-based theory of the systemic impact of traumatic stress and details a comprehensive approach for helping families by promoting their natural healing resources.
  2. Mental Health and Wellness Supports for Youth with IDD. This book written by Daniel Baker and E. Richard Bloomberg provides positive approaches for enhancing mental wellness and treating mental health disorders among youth with intellectual development disabilities. Chapters by recognized experts address a wide variety of topics including psychotherapy, trauma, positive identity development and psychopharmacology.
  3. Restoring Sanctuary: A New Operating System for Trauma-Informed Systems of Care. S.L. Bloom, & B. Farragher. Oxford University Press, 2013. This is the third in a trilogy of books that chronicle the revolutionary changes in our mental health and human service delivery systems that have conspired to disempower staff and hinder client recovery. Creating Sanctuary documented the evolution of The Sanctuary Model therapeutic approach as an antidote to the personal and social trauma that clients bring to child welfare agencies, psychiatric hospitals, and residential facilities. Destroying Sanctuary details the destructive role of organizational trauma in the nation's systems of care. Restoring Sanctuary is a user-friendly manual for organizational change that addresses the deep roots of toxic stress and illustrates how to transform a dysfunctional human service system into a safe, secure, trauma-informed environment.
  4. Risking Connection: A Training Curriculum for Working with Survivors of Childhood Abuse. K.W. Saakvitne, S. Gamble, L. A. Pearlman, & B.T. Lev. The Sidran Institute, a nonprofit organization devoted to educating professionals about traumatic stress conditions, is pleased to announce the publication of Risking Connection®: A Training Curriculum for Working with Survivors of Childhood Abuse, a basic trauma training curriculum specially designed for staff in public mental health settings. The curriculum was developed by trauma specialists at the Trauma Research, Education, and Training Institute, Inc. (TREATI) of South Windsor, CT with the support of the Departments of Mental Health in the states of Maine and New York. This affordable curriculum is now available to all interested agencies and individuals. It was prepared with editorial and clinical input from helping professionals and trauma survivors with extensive experience in state mental health systems, clinical treatments of traumatic stress conditions, curriculum design, and the law.
  5. The Road Back to Wellness: Stress, Burnout & Trauma in Corrections. Fisher, P.T. July 2000. This is a workbook designed to provide practical help in addressing the effects of workplace stress, burnout and trauma as they occur in the corrections field. It is divided into three sections that provide background, self-assessment tools and strategies to develop your own wellness plan.
  6. Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others. Lipsky L.V.D., & Burk, C. 2009. A  longtime trauma worker, Laura van Dernoot Lipsky offers a deep and empathetic survey of the often-unrecognized toll on those working to make the world a better place. We may feel tired, cynical, numb, or like we can never do enough. These, and other symptoms, affect us individually and collectively, sapping the energy and effectiveness we so desperately need if we are to benefit humankind, other animals, and the planet itself. Through Trauma Stewardship, we are called to meet these challenges in an intentional way--not by becoming overwhelmed but by developing a quality of mindful presence. Joining the wisdom of ancient cultural traditions with modern psychological research, Lipsky offers a variety of simple and profound practices that will allow us to remake ourselves--and ultimately the world.
  7. Using Trauma Theory to Design Service Systems: New Directions for Mental Health Services, Number 89. M. Harris, & R.D. Fallot. Jossey-Bass, 2001. Mental health practitioners are becoming increasingly aware that they are encountering a very large number of men and women who are survivors of sexual and physical abuse. This volume identifies the essential elements necessary for a system to begin to integrate an understanding about trauma into its core service programs. The fundamental elements of a trauma-informed system are identified and the necessary supports for bringing about system change are highlighted. The basic philosophy of trauma-informed practice is then examined across several specific service components: assessment and screening, inpatient treatment, residential services, addictions programming, and case management. Modifications necessary to transform a current system into a trauma-informed system are discussed in great detail as well as the changing roles of consumers and providers. This is the 89th issue of the quarterly journal New Directions for Mental Health Services.

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Self-Care Resources

Exercises and Practical Techniques
Exercise can help individuals feel better and reduce the symptoms of toxic stress. The list below provides examples of exercise models and other practical techniques that may be used by those who have experienced trauma or those working with traumatized individuals. It is important to note that these strategies to not replace treatment.

  1. Bouncing Back: Resilience Can Be Learned. Practice these daily tips for better resilience.
  2. Brain Gym. Brain Gym exercises to help clients use movement of comfort to help with hypo and hyper arousal. Trish Mullen shares feedback from a mom: “At first I felt silly doing brain gym and then it felt good to have fun and be silly with my daughter. We never do that anymore. I was completely amazed of how good 2 minutes of doing that stuff was for me and her…. I’m going to see if we can get our entire family doing this together. I loved the Travolta. She immediately calmed down and let herself be silly. I loved seeing that.”  Trish also shares feedback from an adolescent boy: “I don’t like sitting when I get real anxious; I wish my teachers let me do brain gym. Detention school does.” He calls it his “spontaneous yoga” and will now say, “Trish, I need to do spontaneous yoga.”  
  3. Brain Gym Activity – Allison Sampson Jackson demonstrates a quick “figure eight” activity based on current evidence related to brain functioning and learning.  Both the left hemisphere of the brain and the right hemisphere of the brain need to be engaged in order to maximize focus, energy and learning. By the early 1980s, Dr. Paul E. Dennison and his wife and collaborator, Gail E. Dennison, had created Educational Kinesiology (Edu-K)-enhanced learning through movement. This work is beginning to reach over from the education field into trauma informed practice. Knowing that individuals with complex forms of trauma have developed somatic connections to fight, flight and freeze as their “go to” behaviors, practicing brain gym is an important way to support the healing of youth and adult brains allowing them to be in present, restore energy, feel more grounded in their bodies … and most of all it is fun !! For more information on Brain Gym, http://www.braingym.com/index.html
  4. Brain Gym – Educational Kinesiology. Educational Kinesiology or Brain Gym, is an approach to learning directed toward specific neurological effects, to the clarification and implementation of life goals. The word kinesiology means “the science of movement”, and so Brain Gym is based on the principle that we can educate the whole person through movement. This document provides
  5. 10 Free Brain Gym Exercises. This document shows 10 free brain gym exercises as well as other guidance and resources for integrating physical activity into the complete school day.
  6. Mobile Apps for Self-Care. Julie McGinty, MSW Intern 2014-2015 for Trauma Informed Oregon, shares her picks for the best apps to reduce stress and maintain health and well-being.
  7. Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE™) developed by trauma specialist Dr. David Berceli to reduce the impact of traumatic experiences on the body. TRE™ was designed to be taught to large populations for whom trauma and PTSD are pervasive (such as military personnel, and natural disaster survivors), but also benefits anyone who may be holding stress and tension in their body. Benefits and reduction of stress related symptoms are usually reported within the first few sessions, and consistently include a reduction in anxiety and chronic pain, and improvements in sleep quality.
  8. 90:10 The Single Most Important Think You Can do For Your Stress. DocMikeEvans follows up his viral health video "23 and 1/2 Hours" with this informative and practical video on managing stress. Dr. Mike Evans is founder of the Health Design Lab at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, an Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of Toronto, and a staff physician at St. Michael's Hospital.

Mobile Applications
Many free or low-cost mobile applications (apps) are now available that provide self-help, education, and support for those who have experienced trauma and for those who work with traumatized individuals. The list of available apps is lengthy and many new apps are launched daily. The list below provides example of available apps that help users reduce the symptoms of toxic stress.

  1. Binaural Beats. Binaural Beats is a free app that stimulates the brain by sending special auditory artifacts directly into headphones to produce subtle changes in behavior though entrainment of brainwaves frequency. This app can help induce relaxation, creativity and many other desirable mental states.
  2. Breathe2Relax. Breathe2Relax is a portable stress management tool which provides detailed information on the effects of stress on the body and instructions and practice exercises to help users learn the stress management skill called diaphragmatic breathing. Breathing exercises have been documented to decrease the body’s ‘fight-or-flight’ (stress) response, and help with mood stabilization, anger control, and anxiety management. Breathe2Relax can be used as a stand-alone stress reduction tool, or can be used in tandem with clinical care directed by a healthcare worker.
  3. Conscious. Conscious is a free app to help users increase mindfulness and awareness by taking simple and effective daily challenges alongside other like-minded people.
  4. eCBT Calm. CBT Calm helps people who are feeling stressed and want to learn relaxation skills. It assesses your stress level, provides relaxation skills, and also includes links to online resources for stress and anxiety. Electronic CBT (eCBT©) is not replacement for psychotherapy or for medications used to treat anxiety. Instead, eCBT Calm helps people to assess their stress symptoms and learn skills to feel more relaxed in their daily lives.
  5. eCBT Trauma. CBT Trauma is an app that helps people who have experienced a traumatic event. It uses the scientific principles of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help relieve the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and can be used in conjunction with psychotherapy or as a standalone self-help intervention. Electronic CBT (eCBT©) is not replacement for traditional psychotherapy, or for medications used to treat symptoms of PTSD. Instead, eCBT aims to help people learn how to assess their symptoms after experiencing a trauma, learn relaxation and grounding skills to help cope with those symptoms, and how to successfully complete exposure exercises, which have been shown to dramatically reduce the symptoms of PTSD.
  6. GPS for the Soul. GPS for the Soul a free app launched by HuffPost allows users to measure their stress levels and follow interactive meditation and breathing guides. These personalized tools aim to encourage harmony and balance, as well as awareness of when our stress starts to go off the charts.
  7. Headspace. Headspace is meditation made simple. Learn online, when you want, wherever you are, in just 10 minutes a day on your computer, tablet or smartphone. The Headspace app can be used on Apple iOS or Android devices and can be downloaded from the Apple iTunes App or Google Play Store respectively. For tablets, the app can be used on any iPad with iOS 6 onwards or any Android tablet with Android 3+ (including Kindle Fire tablets).
  8. iStress. iStress is a self-help app that provides different types of stress reduction, such as positive thinking, humor and encouragement of positive attitudes.
  9. Lightening Bug. Lightning Bug is an ambience and white noise mixer for Android powered devices. Lightning Bug features a library of almost 200 sound loops and samples ranging from the natural peace of rain storms and ocean waves, to pure white noise, city trains, meditation bells, acoustic and electronic instruments, and down-tempo break beats. The app also includes many soothing backgrounds and sound visualizations.
  10. Meditation Helper. This free app is meditation timer which allows you to set a target for the length of time you want to meditate each day. It includes a widget that displays the number of consecutive days you have hit the target. It is thus useful not only as a timer, but also as a tool to help motivate you to meditate regularly.
  11. Mind Health. Rooted in Buddhist Psychology this app will serve you as a reminder of the key concepts that can help you reduce your stress, calm your mind, and sow the seeds of happiness through your meditation practice. Come back to this app frequently and reread the basic concepts, and try to apply them in your daily life. Please note that this is intended for people already familiar with meditation.
  12. Provider Resilience. This app created by the National Center for Telehealth & Technology provides health care providers with tools to guard against burnout and compassion fatigue as they help victims of trauma.
  13. PTSD Coach. Together with professional medical treatment, PTSD Coach provides users with education about PTSD, information about professional care, a self-assessment for PTSD, opportunities to find support, and tools that can help users manage the stresses of daily life with PTSD.
  14. Relax and Sleep. Relax and Sleep Well is a high quality hypnosis recording by best selling self-help audio author Glenn Harrold. This free recording will help alleviate stress and anxiety and sleep well at night. Please note the full version of this app has daytime and night-time versions. The free version includes the daytime version only but this is still a full 27-minute hypnosis session.
  15. Relax Completely. A hypnosis session for deep relaxation by one of the UKs leading hypnotherapists and trainers. Includes animated backgrounds, video interviews, relaxation tips and weblinks.
  16. Support by EBT. Emotional Brain Training (www.ebtgroups.com) focuses stress in the emotional brain. EBT provides tangible ways to create balance in your emotional brain so that your brain's emotional set point begins to improve. Begin by learning the basic tools to change your emotional brain so that you naturally process stress in a highly effective way. Once you have improved the way you process the daily stresses of life, then the 7 EBT Kits will guide you to creating lasting change. This app will help you current your current level of stress, discover what part of your brain is now dominant and then use a brain based tool to reduce our stress level and feel better.
  17. T2 Mood Tracker. T2 Mood Tracker is a free app that allows users to monitor and track emotional health. Originally developed as a tool for service members to easily record and review their behavior changes, particularly after combat deployments, it has now become very popular with many civilian users around the world. The app records a range of emotions for anxiety, depression, head injury, stress, posttraumatic stress and a user’s general well-being. Users can also create items to track their progress in unique areas. The saved results are displayed in an easy-understand graph. The data is saved in a graphical or spreadsheet file which can be transferred by e-mail or other wireless connection.

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