The ChildTrauma Academy is a not-for-profit organization based in Houston, Texas focused on education, service delivery and program consultation in the areas of child maltreatment.

Mission:  The mission of the Academy is to help improve the lives of traumatized and maltreated children.  We endeavor to improve the systems that educate, nurture, protect and enrich these children - through education, service delivery and program consultation.  We work to improve individual lives through clinical assessment and treatment.

Strategy:  Essential to this process is the collaboration of all sectors of society. As such, we engage in a continuous process of identifying key partners, drawn from academia, the corporate world, private organizations and public sector systems. While each partnership has a distinct focus-- identifying best practices in child protection, evaluating the latest research in child development, defining optimal ways to provide resources to parents or creating a novel therapeutic approach with traumatized children-- all are engaged in the continuous process of testing, refining and distributing innovations that can improve the lives of children.*

Our Contact information

The ChildTrauma Academy
5161 San Felipe,  Suite 320
Houston, Texas 77056

Email - ChildTrauma@ChildTraumaAcademy.org
Toll Free Phone - (866) 943-9779
Fax - (713) 513-5465

Please note that we are unable to provide clinical impressions via email or phone.  Arranging for private assessment is possible.

CTA Primary Work Group:

              Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D.            
                   Senior Fellow, ChildTrauma Academy

              Jana Lihn Rosenfelt, M.Ed., LPC
                    Executive Director, ChildTrauma Academy

              Christine Ludy-Dobson, Ph.D., LMSW
                  Director of Progams, ChildTrauma Academy

              Stephanie Schick, M.Ed., LPC
                    Director of Education and Training, ChildTrauma Academy

The ChildTrauma Academy Fellows Program:  Childhood trauma and maltreatment create complex and multi-dimensional problems which impact every sector of our society.  Addressing these problems requires active leadership from a diverse range of professional disciplines.  Our current problem-solving organizations – universities, foundations, government and non-governmental organizations – are limited in their capacity to create and sustain a large interdisciplinary pool of expertise within the bounds of their single organizations.  Simply stated, the critical mass of experienced professionals needed to create and implement innovative, effective solutions is lacking in most communities.

To address this, The ChildTrauma Academy chooses to use a different model for creating this pool of expertise.  Rather than organize and unify this expertise under a single organization and administrative structure, we choose to identify individuals of excellence, our Fellows, and when appropriate, bring them together for specific program or training activities.  The Fellows maintain their primary organizational affiliation and work; in instances where their expertise, interest and time allow, they will be invited to participate in a specific CTA service or project.  The organizing principle for The ChildTrauma Academy Fellows is a common desire to improve the lives of high-risk children and their families.  Unified by a common vision and selected on the basis of proven excellence in their field, the Fellows help the CTA and its partners improve their practice, programs and policy. 

ChildTrauma Fellows

              Sarah Webster, ACSW-LMSW-AP
                     Fellow, ChildTrauma Academy

              Richard L. Gaskill, Ed.D.
                     Fellow, ChildTrauma Academy

              Gizane Indart, Psy.D.
                     Fellow, ChildTrauma Academy

              Robin Fancourt, M.R.C.P., F.R.A.C.P.
                     Fellow, ChildTrauma Academy 

The North South article - This excellent magazine article highlights the work and life of Dr. Robin Fancourt, our first International ChildTrauma Academy Fellow and a distinguished pediatrician in New Zealand.

Child Health in Times of Social and Economic Change - Get a flavor of Dr. Fancourt's work by reading this recent article. 

    Jorge Mata-Vargas, M.D.
            Fellow, ChildTrauma Academy 

    Donald  Smith, Ph.D.
           Fellow, ChildTrauma Academy

    Louise Lee J.D.
           Fellow, ChildTrauma Academy

    Mary Beth Arcidiacono
           Fellow, ChildTrauma Academy

    Annette Jackson, MSW
           Fellow, ChildTrauma Academy

    Jerry B. Yager, Psy.D.
          Fellow, ChildTrauma Academy

    Tamar Jacobson, Ph.D.
          Fellow, ChildTrauma Academy

    Stewart T. Gordon, M.D., FAAP
          Fellow, ChildTrauma Academy

    Kalena Babeshoff
          Fellow, ChildTrauma Academy

    Diane Vines, LMFT, LPC, RPT
          Fellow, ChildTrauma Academy

    Eugene Griffin, J.D., Ph.D.
          Fellow, ChildTrauma Academy

Past Fellows

    Jeanne Morris, M.Ed.
          Fellow, ChildTrauma Academy

    Alan Hague, M.S.
            Fellow, ChildTrauma Academy

    Toi Blakley Harris, M.D.
            Fellow, ChildTrauma Academy

Strategy Elaborated: * There are many individuals and organizations sharing our vision and hopes for children; it is a central operating principle of the CTA to seek out, support and work side by side with these individuals and organizations - both public and private.

We believe that it is only through pooling the resources and strengths of all sectors in our community, that the multidimensional problems and complex issues related to childhood trauma and maltreatment can best be studied, understood and solved.

The CTA works to create unique partnerships with corporate, public and other private organizations. Over the years, The ChildTrauma Academy has developed a unique insight and skill set that helps create and sustain successful partnerships and projects. Two primary activities of The ChildTrauma Academy are 1) program consultation and development and 2) education and training.

Program History:

The ChildTrauma Academy is a unique organization dedicated to helping understand and serve high-risk children. Founded in 1990 by Dr. Perry as the Center for the Study of Childhood Trauma, the original partner in this unique “institute without walls” was St. Joseph Carondolet Children’s Center, a not-for-profit agency in Chicago, Illinois serving abused and neglected children. In 1992, the Center became the ChildTrauma Programs and moved to Houston when Dr. Perry became Chief of Psychiatry at Texas Children’s Hospital at Baylor College of Medicine. The ChildTrauma Programs functioned as a component of the Psychiatry Service at Texas Children’s Hospital affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine. In 1994 CIVITAS Initiative, a Chicago-based communications foundation, became a primary funding partner and from 1995 to 1998 the ChildTrauma Programs became the CIVITAS ChildTrauma Programs, a partnership between the three primary institutions supporting its work, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital and CIVITAS Initiative.

In 1998, in recognition of a shift in our focus to interdisciplinary educational activities (e.g., judges, caseworkers, psychologists, pediatricians, psychiatrists, foster parents, educators, early childhood specialists) we became the ChildTrauma Academy. With a number of innovative public and private partnerships and programs, our work – while still focused on maltreated children - became increasingly focused on non-medical models of care and cross–agency collaborations. Our work was beginning to impact policy on a state and national basis and our research projects became increasingly focused on clinical and systemic outcomes. By 2000 our primary partners came from the public-private partnerships we had created to implement our innovative programs, specifically the State of Texas via the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (TDPRS) and a visionary corporation, Digital Consulting and Software Services (DCSS).

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Supporters:

The Weekley Family Fund	The Weekley Family Fund has joined the ChildTrauma Academy to support its Education and Training efforts.  Thanks to their generous support, the ChildTrauma Academy is now offering new educational courses including "Ethical Issues in Working with Children" and "Bonding and Attachment in Maltreated Children."
	Andrew Vachss is an attorney and best-selling author who has dedicated his career to protecting maltreated children.  In his book entitled False Allegations, Mr. Vachss invites readers to support Dr. Perry's work.  His site, www.vachss.com, has a host of useful links, compelling writing and powerful, effective methods for changing social policy, law and practice related to the maltreatment of children.
	The Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services remains a wonderful partner to us, supporting the development and implementation of innovative programs designed to improve state services to children and their families.   The Children's Crisis Care Center is one such partnership program, so successful in its pilot phase that the state is working with us to develop and implement a Core Assessment for children and families in the CPS system across Texas.  TDPRS is working with the ChildTrauma Academy on several projects including a Judicial Training Project in the areas of child development and maltreatment, a Critical Incident Debriefing Project and a Secondary Trauma Prevention Program.
	Powered has a proven and measurable way to help businesses acquire and retain customers. By delivering online, education-based marketing solutions, Powered enables Fortune 2000 companies to strengthen their brand, build demand and increase sales. Barnes & Noble.com, Hewlett- Packard, Bloomberg, and Metrowerks, a Motorola Company are just a few of their very visible clients. Powered, Inc. (tm)  generously expended tremendous effort and resources, pro bono, to create our online education site: ChildTraumaAcademy.com
	Celebrating its sixtieth anniversary in 2000, the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health has been managing both operating programs and grant making activities that support mental health service and research projects in Texas for more than half a century.  The Hogg Foundation supported the Academy's unique service delivery project for acutely traumatized children.
	Shadow Cove Soaps has created a special soap to help support our work.  Ten percent of this soap's sales, entitled Herbs and Spices, is donated to the ChildTrauma Academy.   Mention any book by Alice or Andrew Vachss, and 10% of your entire order will be donated.