Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR):
EMDR therapy is an 8-phase psychotherapy treatment that was originally designed to alleviate the symptoms of trauma. During the EMDR trauma processing phases, guided by standardized procedures, the client attends to emotionally disturbing material in brief sequential doses that include the client’s beliefs, emotions, and body sensations associated with the traumatic event while simultaneously focusing on an external stimulus. Therapist-directed bilateral eye movements are the most commonly used external stimulus, but a variety of other stimuli including hand-tapping and audio bilateral stimulation are often used.
- Target Population: Adults and youth, ages 2 – adulthood. Children and adolescents who have experienced trauma and other mental health disorders.
Motivational Interviewing (MI):
Client-centered, directive method designed to enhance client motivation for behavior change. It focuses on exploring and resolving ambivalence by increasing intrinsic motivation to change. MI can be used by itself, as well as in combination with other treatments. It has been utilized in pretreatment work to engage and motivate clients for other treatment modalities.
- Target Population: Adolescents and caregivers referred to the Child Welfare System.
Nurturing Parents Program (NPP):
Family-centered program designed for the prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect. The program lessons focus on remediating parenting patterns known to form the basis of child maltreatment.
- Inappropriate parental expectations
- Parental lack of empathy in meeting the needs of their children
- Strong belief in the use of corporal punishment
- Reversing parent-child family roles
- Oppressing children’s power and independence
- Target Population: Children/Adolescents ages 5-12, families who have been reported to the child welfare system for child maltreatment including physical and emotional maltreatment in addition to child neglect; may be used as a court-ordered parenting program.
Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT):
Dyadic behavioral intervention for children (ages 2.0 – 7.0 years) and their parents or caregivers that focuses on decreasing externalizing child behavior problems (e.g., defiance, aggression), increasing child social skills and cooperation, and improving the parent-child attachment relationship.
- Target Population: Children ages 2 - 7 with behavior and parent-child relationship problems; may be conducted with parents, foster parents, or other caretakers.
SafeCare (SC):
In-home parent training program that targets risk factors for child neglect and physical abuse in which parents are taught skills in three module areas: (1) how to interact in a positive manner with their children, to plan activities, and respond appropriately to challenging child behaviors, (2) to recognize hazards in the home in order to improve the home environment, and (3) to recognize and respond to symptoms of illness and injury, in addition to keeping good health records.
- Target Population: Children ages 0-5, parents at risk for child neglect and/or abuse and parents with a history of neglect and/or abuse.
Solution-Based Casework (SBC):
Solution-Based Casework is an approach to assessment, case planning, and ongoing casework that encompasses many of the tenets of high-quality practice. This approach combines problem-focused relapse prevention with solution-focused techniques to address everyday events in the life of a family that present difficulties. This integration of approaches can foster partnerships between families, caseworkers, and service providers, and these relationships can address each family’s unique needs. The Solution-Based Casework model also had significantly better outcomes in safety, permanency, and well-being—even exceeding federal standards—compared to cases that showed low fidelity to the model.
- Target population: Children/adolescents ages 0-17, children and families where there has been suspected or substantiated child abuse/neglect.
Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT):
TF-CBT is a conjoint child and parent psychotherapy model for children who are experiencing significant emotional and behavioral difficulties related to traumatic life events. It is a components-based hybrid treatment model that incorporates trauma-sensitive interventions with cognitive behavioral, family and humanistic principles.
- Target population: Children/Adolescents ages 3 – 18 with a known trauma history who are experiencing significant posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, whether or not they meet full diagnostic criteria. In addition, children with depression, anxiety, and/or shame related to their traumatic exposure. Children experiencing childhood traumatic grief can also benefit from the treatment.