Innovations: child & adolescent psychiatry: Training in developmental responses to trauma for child service providers

Youths most at risk of exposure to community violence are often those who are least likely to receive the attention of mental health professionals. The column describes the development and testing of training about trauma for school personnel and other community providers of children's services. The curriculum was developed with input from focus groups of school nurses. The one-day training sessions address nine areas: normal responses to stress, abnormal responses to stress, posttraumatic stress disorder and acute stress disorder, stage theories of loss and grief, risk and protective factors, crisis and disaster planning, resilience, mental health referral sources, and self-care techniques.