The Center for Complex Trauma (CCT) advances the science and treatment of child traumatic stress and psychological resilience. At the Center, we study the nature of, and treatments for, trauma and resilience, and train professionals and nonprofessionals throughout New York City and beyond.
Treatment
With the support of two federal grants from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA), the Center delivers trauma-informed treatment through three programs:
- Family and Teen Recovery Services (FTRS, aka “Futures”) is an intensive, outpatient, trauma-informed substance abuse and recovery program for adolescents and transition-age youth. It is located in the Child and Family Institute at Mount Sinai Morningside, and is funded through SAMHSA’s Treatment and Recovery Expansion and Enhancement initiative.
- The Complex Trauma Program (CTP) provides trauma-informed treatment for children, adolescents, and their families. It is embedded in the child psychiatry outpatient clinics at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, The Mount Sinai Hospital, and Mount Sinai Morningside, and at Mount Sinai’s Comprehensive Adolescent Rehabilitation and Education Service and The Judith S. Kaye High School. Funded through SAMHSA’s National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative, this program belongs to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, which brings together the nation’s leading experts in child traumatic stress to advance care for children and families suffering from child trauma.
- The Frontline Families Support Program (FFSP), also supported by SAMHSA’s National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative, was launched in response to the Mount Sinai Health System’s role at the epicenter of New York City’s fight against COVID-19. This small pilot program provides short-term crisis parenting support offered by the program liaison, Cheryl Wolff, LCSW. Ms. Wolff can also help the family find a referral for longer-term care as needed. Additionally, a group of child clinicians working at The Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside, and Mount Sinai Beth Israel have offered to hold a treatment slot for FFSP families or at least try their best to prioritize these families if there is a waitlist for care. Unfortunately, the need for FFSP support (and psychotherapy in general) during this time has been so high that our clinicians are often fully booked. If you are interested in a brief parenting consultation call through the FFSP, contact Ms. Wolff at (212) 659-8752 (option 1, then option 2).
For families interested in trauma-informed treatment, the Mount Sinai Health System outpatient psychiatry clinics provide insurance-based treatment. To learn how to schedule an intake appointment, contact the most convenient location: Mount Sinai Beth Israel, The Mount Sinai Hospital, and Mount Sinai Morningside.
Training
The Center offers a variety of trainings and consultation services for health care professionals:
- Didactic and experiential lectures and workshops
- Ongoing clinical supervision
- Organizational consultation on trauma-informed practices
We specialize in integrating scientific and clinical information and adapting it to be consumer-friendly, child- and family-oriented, and highly practical. We teach clients how the trauma-informed framework functions, then help you develop practical and applied strategies that will immediately improve engagement with and healing for traumatized children, families, and staff who work with traumatized populations.
Program Evaluation
The Center receives federal and local funding to provide trauma-informed program evaluation for the following innovative programs:
- Men’s Empowerment Program is a program for young men of color who are survivors of violence, located within the Harlem Community Justice Center (Center for Court Innovation). Funding comes through the Manhattan District Attorney’s Criminal Justice Investment Initiative.
- Trauma Healing and Resilience Initiative for Transgender Survivors of Violence is a trauma-informed program providing support for transgender victims of crime, located within Mount Sinai’s Institute for Advanced Medicine. This program, too, receives funding through the Manhattan District Attorney’s Criminal Justice Investment Initiative.
- The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has a grant from SAMHSA to integrate medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorders into the medical school curriculum to ensure that all graduating medical students are trained to address the growing opioid crisis in the United States. The Center serves as the evaluator for this program.