Summary
This grant will help fund a public health intervention that utilizes cognitive behavioral therapy to address Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) as it relates to emotional abuse. The intervention will include weekly family and individual therapy sessions for a three month period that address domestic emotional abuse and teach families appropriate coping skills. The target population is Gainesville families with children ages 5-17 years who have experienced emotional abuse and poverty. This population was chosen because Gainesville has one of the highest rates of poverty in the state of Florida and impoverished families are more likely to experience neglect and abuse (Sauter & Stebbins, 2019; NBER, 2000). The therapy sessions will be lead by licensed psychiatrist and licensed mental health counselors who are trained in trauma intervention. Each participant will leave the intervention with vital tools that will help them engage in healthy interactions, effectively communicate, and express their feelings without causing trauma.
Trauma Informed Principles
The program utilizes trauma-informed principles by incorporating trustworthiness and transparency as well as empowerment, voice and choice into the individual and family therapy sessions (SAMHSA, 2014; Feuer et al., 2016). Trustworthiness and transparency will be utilized by the program staff meeting with participants before individual therapy sessions to evaluate family dynamic and trauma that is present in order to develop a targeted therapy approaches and activities that best meets the needs of each family and individual (SAMHSA, 2014). One way to approach this will be to provide each participant with an informed consent form and ensure them nothing will be shared with other family members from their sessions that they do not want shared. This will build a rapport between staff and participants and encourage the participants to provide full transparency with reassurance that nothing discussed will leave the sessions unless they want to share it with family. Building relationships with community stakeholders and establishing networks within the community can also be used to build rapport. Empowerment, voice and choice will be utilized within the program through personal development activities in the individual therapy sessions. These activities will allow individuals to share their strengths and build upon those strengths to promote resiliency and grit. By empowering the individuals and giving them tools to believe in their power and strengths, it will allow them to share feedback with their families as it relates to trauma and feel empowered doing so.
Levels of the Social-Ecological Model
This intervention addresses the individual and interpersonal levels of McLeroy's Social Ecological Model (SEM) (McLeroy et al., 1988). The cognitive-behavioral therapy will be split into both individual and family sessions. The individual sessions will focus on the individual level of the SEM and provide one-on-one therapy sessions to family members to address emotional abuse, trauma, and teach coping skills. The family sessions will focus on the interpersonal level of the SEM and encourage healthy communication between family members, teach parents and guardians healthy ways to deal with stress, and address factors aiding in trauma to find potential solutions. This is important because finding the cause of the trauma is the best way to intervene and discover solutions that will prevent further trauma from occurring. Individual and interpersonal levels of the SEM were selected for this intervention because multiple factors affect a person’s life and addressing issues starting from the individual branching out to the family it provides a solid perspective on the foundation of one’s trauma. In this intervention, targeting the individual and those closest to them will help us identify trauma at its roots and provide helpful methods to improve the circumstances that made the trauma possible such as personal attitudes, family dynamics, and friends.
Public Health Framework
The public health framework that will be used are primary and tertiary stages of prevention (Kisling & Das, 2021). Our team will address prevention and treatment by providing cognitive-behavioral therapy treatment to the family members dealing with the effects of ACEs and teaching vital skills in preventing ACEs. Prevention efforts will include teaching positive communication styles, educational parenting trainings, and providing resources to help alleviate negative social determinant of health. For example, providing families with resources that help cover all or part of daycare costs so they don’t have to work as many hours and can spend more time with their families. By establishing relationships with community stakeholders and building networks within the community, we can address the public health issues caused by trauma and ACEs (Thompson et al., 2018). This program will promote healthy mental, physical, and emotional relationships for family members through cognitive-behavioral therapy and learned skills.
References
Feuer-Edwards, A., O’Brien, C, & O’Connor, S. (2016). Trauma-informed philanthropy: A funder’s resource guide for supporting trauma-informed practice in the Delaware Valley. Vol. 1, 5-7 & 15. https://philanthropynetwork.or...raumaGUIDE_Final.pdf
Kisling, L.A. and Das, J.M. (2021). Prevention strategies. StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK537222/
McLeroy, K.R., Bibeau, D., Steckler, A., & Glanz, K. (1988). An ecological perspective on health promotion programs. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 15(4), 351-377.
National Bureau of Economic Research. (2000). Poverty and mistreatment of children go hand in hand. Retrieved from https://www.nber.org/digest/ja...hildren-go-hand-hand
SAMHSA’s Trauma and Justice Strategic Initiative. (2014). SAMHSA’s Concept of trauma and guidance for a trauma-informed approach. Retrieved from https://ncsacw.acf.hhs.gov/use...es/SAMHSA_Trauma.pdf
Sauter, M.B. & Stebbins, S. (2019). The city hit hardest by extreme poverty in every state. 24/7 Wall St. Retrieved from https://247wallst.com/special-...-in-every-state-3/3/
Thompson, K., O’Brien, C., & O’Connor, S. (2018). Trauma-informed philanthropy: Volume 2. Philanthropy Network. Retrieved from https://philanthropynetwork.or...a2-web%20%281%29.pdf
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