The Building Resilience through Residential Communities (BRTRC) project is a SAMHSA funded NCTSN Category II Treatment and Services Adaptation Center. The BRTRC’s central aim is to develop, adapt, and disseminate trauma-informed care (TIC) approaches and evidence-based practices (EBPs) for residential treatment centers (RTCs) nationwide that serve high risk, trauma-impacted youth and their families.
The BRTRC’s mission is to address key gaps in available strategies for implementation of TIC in RTCs, increase access to effective EBPs for youth in residential care, and bolster workforce development in RTCs. Through these activities, the BRTRC will raise the standard of care, increase resiliency of programs, staff and clients, and improve client clinical outcomes.
The primary goals of the BRTRC project are:
The BRTRC expert staff provide intensive training and technical assistance to RTCs across the nation. Our staff will also engage in national dissemination through creation of a publicly available webinar series for residential providers, establish a resource center for RTCs, develop products for professionals working in RTCs, and engage in collaborative activities with the NCTSN to promote the uptake of trauma-informed care in RTCs.
Participation in the BRTRC consists of five key elements:
BRTRC staff facilitate a baseline program evaluation regarding attitudes towards trauma informed care and staff wellness (ARTIC), and conduct a needs assessment (STSS) to identify agency goals, preferences and resources.
Agencies participate in a 7-hour live online trauma foundations training series designed specifically for residential care staff and facilitated by BRTRC faculty. Part of this training involves watching the ReMoved Video, available in our Video Library.
Partner sites receive a two-day on-site BCC training, in addition to a two-hour walk through of the program, which is a trauma-informed and strength-based curriculum designed for RTCs in order to foster thoughtful coordination of systems and procedures across all levels of the RTC system (agency, program, and individual) to create a restorative community. The initial on-site training is followed-up by six months of bi-weekly consultation with BRTRC faculty. All sites are also invited to a training-of-trainers in BCC to support long-term sustainability of the model.
Clinical staff from partner sites will be invited to join advanced clinical training in trauma-informed care, found in detail in our BRTRC Interventions section, including information about ARC, TF-CBT, and SPARCS.
Partner site leadership will be invites to a cross-site national consortium meeting with focus on trauma informed care in residential environments. Site leadership will also be invited to the full-network virtual and/or in-person cumulative meeting. You can learn more information about each partner site on our Participating Partner Sites area of our About page.
The BRTRC provides training and consultation in the following system and clinical intervention models to support trauma informed care in residential settings.
BCC is a 3-day JRI-developed curriculum and crisis prevention training that provides a trauma-informed, systems-focused approach to therapeutic work and crisis intervention in residential care settings, while still allowing for a great deal of individualization on the program and client levels. The first day of training will center on our trainers conducting a walk-through of your program site in order to learn more about the day-to-day program operations. On days 2 and 3, the basic training in BCC will be provided to staff. Click on the title for a link for more information.
The Attachment, Regulation and Competency (ARC) Framework is a flexible, components-based intervention developed for children and adolescents who have experienced complex trauma, along with their caregiving systems. ARC’s foundation is built upon four key areas of study: normative childhood development, traumatic stress, attachment, and risk and resilience.
SPARCS is a manually-guided and empirically-supported group treatment designed to improve the emotional, social, academic, and behavioral functioning of adolescents exposed to chronic interpersonal trauma and/or separate types of trauma.
Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) addresses the mental health needs of children, adolescents, and families suffering from the destructive effects of early trauma. The treatment is particularly sensitive to the unique problems of youth with post-traumatic stress and mood disorders resulting from sexual abuse, as well as from physical abuse, violence, or grief.
PFA is an initial disaster response intervention with the goal to promote safety, stabilize survivors of disasters and connect individuals to help and resources. PFA is delivered to affected individuals by mental health professionals and other first responders. The purpose of PFA is to assess the immediate concerns and needs of an individual in the aftermath of a disaster, and not to provide on-site therapy.
The Resource Parent Curriculum is a trauma-informed workshop for parents and other caregivers of trauma-impacted children. RPC workshops focus on providing caregivers with information about trauma and it’s impact on child development, common child emotions, behaviors, and symptoms that may result from trauma, tips for how to effectively support and engage with a child struggling with the impacts of trauma, how to be an advocate for the child, and caregiver self-care. The BRTRC provides a train-the-trainer to agencies in the RPC in order to enable partner programs to run RPC workshops with the caregivers they serve.