Child and Family Services is pleased to announce two exciting new initiatives for northern Michigan. With our partners at Kids Creek Children’s Clinic in Traverse City and at Western Michigan University’s Children’s Trauma Assessment Center (CTAC) in Kalamazoo, we are developing an integrated behavioral health practice and trauma assessment and treatment center that will see children and adults for mental health issues. 

Elizabeth Carrillo, Lori Minidis, Lisa Lederer, Margo Million, Linda Smith, Dr. Jim Robertson, Amber Lee, Jim Scherrer, and Paula Smith outside the new Kids Creek location.

 

The first part of this initiative, discussed in our spring 2015 newsletter, will be to work with the pediatricians at Kids Creek to help treat children with mental health issues, under one roof. As many parents take their children to the medical doctor for behavioral, emotional, or mental health issues, CFS and KCCC came together to ensure that we were treating the whole child, not just the symptoms. Children with mental health problems seen by KCCC pediatricians will be able to meet with CFS behavioral health staff at the same location and, perhaps, even on the same day. We believe this will reduce the number and amount of medications that children require, decrease problem behaviors in children and adult clients, and increase the general well-being of children and families.

A second, equally exciting development is the opening of northern Michigan’s first trauma assessment and treatment center, which will also be housed at Kids Creek. Currently, our mentors and partners at Western Michigan University’s CTAC remain the closest, and perhaps only, place in Michigan that children who have suffered trauma can be seen and assessed. Currently, CTAC has an extremely long waitlist to be seen (around nine months) and CTAC does not provide treatment following assessments. We anticipate being one of few in the state to offer this new trauma-informed assessment and treatment of children and adults. 

These two interrelated initiatives have fostered a strategic partnership between CFS, Kids Creek, and CTAC. To help facilitate this new integrated approach, CFS has relocated our Behavioral Health Department to Kids Creek, a move both teams are extremely excited about. Trans-disciplinary assessments of children are expected to begin in early May 2015. We are benefitting from the consultation and support of CTAC as we develop the northern Michigan model. For more information on CTAC, visit their website at www.wmich.edu/traumacenter.

These developments came after CFS hosted a conference on trauma-informed practice in November 2014, which brought together several stakeholders including foster parents, school and medical personnel, and CFS staff members. Since the conference, the momentum has continued through comprehensive talks with Dr. Mark Sloane of CTAC and Dr. James Robertson, owner of Kids Creek, which resulted in the development of the new trauma assessment and treatment center in Traverse City.

The evolving trauma assessment team currently includes special education professionals (occupational therapists, school psychologists, speech and language therapists, school social workers, and teacher consultants) from the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District (TBAISD) and Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS), pediatricians from Kids Creek, and behavioral health therapists at CFS. The Behavioral Health Services team at CFS has been working diligently to learn and integrate into their practice the latest research and information available on trauma and the neurobiological effects of trauma, especially in children. The team has attended numerous trainings and conferences presented by renowned experts in the field, including Connie Black-Pond, Dr. Sloane and Jim Henry of CTAC, and Bruce Perry and Heather Forbes. They have also had the unique opportunity to attend and observe the day-long trans-disciplinary trauma assessment process at CTAC. The team is abreast of the newest information as it becomes available through multiple online resources and databases.

There are several benefits to this collaboration. A significant percentage of children seen by Kids Creek pediatricians also require treatment for mental health issues and they would be able to receive both at the same location with the CFS Behavioral Health team on site. We are confident that providing efficient and integrated medical and behavioral care to children by practitioners who utilize a trauma-informed approach will dramatically improve the functioning and well-being of the children we serve. CFS’s partners at CTAC are enthusiastic about the collaboration and are considering a variety of ways that they can support it, including using our facility to conduct evidence-based research on the model. CTAC is in a position to bring the project to the attention of their funders and partners, such as the Kellogg Foundation, the University of Michigan, and the Michigan Child Collaborative Care Project.

The major beneficiaries of the project are, rightfully, the children and families CFS will serve. CFS anticipates being able to directly impact over 250 children each year via trauma assessment and/or treatment, in addition to referrals received from Kids Creek staff and current children and families who receive our behavioral health services. The center will serve children and adults with mental health issues and referrals are expected to come from the child welfare system, KCCC patient families, and the general public.

In keeping with best practices and the increasing understanding of the way the traumatized brain works, CFS believes that its ability to provide trauma assessment and treatment to children in northern Michigan is vital to their general health and well-being. We look forward to sharing more about these new services in our community as we move forward. Please don’t hesitate to contact us should you have any questions, or if you or someone you love would like to schedule an appointment. (231) 946-8975

(The only thing I think about this is that it is great, however, at the same time as our region checks out can we do this too, we need to continue to get the word out about prevention, about the effects on the developing brain of toxic stress --- our region has 3 x the CPS cases/ infant mortality as TC--- data in Annie E Casey Kid's Count Data Book --- we could never do Trauma Assessments or have enough therapists to do all the work that would be needed here so becoming a trauma-informed and prevention oriented community must remain key otherwise we are just nibbling around the edges.)  

My thoughts for NE Michigan Trauma-Informed Community Action Group, see you all in a couple hours at the meeting tonight!