I am a child and family therapist at a community health agency in Southwest Philadelphia. I came to Philadelphia from Cleveland, to pursue my Doctorate of Clinical Social Work at the University of Pennsylvania. After spending years as a school-based counselor in two inner city elementary schools in Cleveland, where it seemed that children experienced increasingly greater barriers over time, I was disheartened. These were not kids who had experienced singular adverse childhood events. They were kids whose day-to-day lives were full of chaos, violence, and instability. Some responded to their environment with anger; some experienced depression. Many faced challenges at school as a result: attention deficits, learning difficulties, reading and language delays. Most of these children were diagnosed with multiple disorders, many were on various cocktails of psychotropic medications, but very few seemed to be getting better. I realized that this was because, often, their challenges made the traditional way of learning about them-- through assessments and evaluations--- nearly impossible. Information was inaccurate, incomplete, or relied totally on their often equally traumatized parents. I felt compelled to seek ways to reach these children and hear their voices, in order to gain an understanding of their subjective experience and, in turn, figure out how and where I may be able to intervene.
It is for this reason that I created the Cameron Complex Trauma Interview (CCTI). It is a two-part, cartoon-based semi-structured interview tool to assess for trauma history and impairments related to complex trauma in school-aged children (5-11). Each item uses developmentally appropriate language, and has a coinciding cartoon picture, featuring ‘Cameron’ a gender-neutral young puppy and/or his family and friends. Children are asked if they've experienced something similar to what Cameron is experiencing in the picture.
I am recruiting Master's or Doctoral level clinicians, who are actively treating traumatized children, to participate in a brief pilot of the CCTI as part of my dissertation research. Commitment is minimal, as the tool need only be used once, with one child in their practice. A second already established and standardized tool will also be used with that same child, either before or after the CCTI. Clinicians will then fill out a brief online evaluation. That’s it. I am aware of how busy, hectic, and often chaotic this work can be; I aim to make things easier for clinicians as opposed to harder. While no financial incentive can be provided, any clinician who participates will gain free lifetime access to the CCTI for his or her own personal, as well as agency, use.
If you, your program, or agency, are interested in participating in this research or in obtaining additional information, please contact me directly, via direct message, e-mail jaboyle84@gmail.com or on my cell phone (440)346-2407. All necessary materials will be sent via e-mail, and the clinician evaluation will be completed online, thus participants can be located anywhere so long as they can access a computer. If you know of anyone who you believe may be interested, please feel free to forward this information and my contact information to them.
I appreciate your time. Be well.'
Jennifer Boyle-King MSW, LCSW, ABD
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