Training and Consultation

We provide training, consultation, and technical assistance in evidence-based trauma-focused treatments for youth and their families.

Our team members are experts in childhood traumatic stress, mental and behavioral health, and certified trainers in established trauma treatments. Our team also develops and tests family prevention programs specifically for child welfare involved youth.

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Vision

All children, youth, and families impacted by trauma and adversity receive the highest quality mental health treatment available.

All mental health professionals serving trauma impacted youth and their families use evidence-based treatments.

Mission

We believe all mental health professionals serving trauma impacted youth and their families will have the greatest impact using Evidence-Based Service Broker Training.

Our mission is to equip all mental health professionals with the knowledge, skills, and support they need to deliver trauma-focused treatments that are scientifically proven to work. This includes helping organizations to build their capacity to expect, support, and sustain evidence-based treatments.

Our Approach

We are committed to high quality training and consultation that is engaging and interactive.
We are guided by implementation science and pay attention to emerging research in the field.
We build clinical competency and treatment fidelity using a strengths based approach.
Our approach to training and consultation
is:
- interactive and includes skills modeling, practice opportunities, and live-coaching
- based on adult learning research that indicates that skill development and behavior change
- is facilitated by active learning strategies, coaching, and practice

Our Reach

As a team, we have trained and consulted with over 6,000 professionals in areas of evidence-based trauma screening, assessment, service planning, and mental health treatment, primarily Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Alternatives for Families: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (AF-CBT), and Let’s Connect®. Our training reaches from our home base of the Boulder-Denver Metro area and our Colorado frontier communities, across the United States, and our global efforts from Japan, Singapore, Lebanon, Iceland and Europe.

Why Evidence Based-Treatments?

Some treatments have a proven track record for success- those treatments are evidence-based treatments. Other treatments may seem like a good idea, but don’t actually have the research, or evidence, to demonstrate that they are effective. Using practices that have been proven effective increases quality of treatment and provider accountability, so that clients only pay for and undergo treatments that have been proven effective (NIRN; Spring, 2007). Targeted treatments minimizes unnecessary expense, time and treatment fatigue because mental health symptoms are often significantly reduced in only 8-25 sessions.

We have a strong track record training and supporting professionals to learn about evidence-based practice and specific trauma-focused EBTS.

We help professionals feel comfortable and confident with knowledge and skills to:

explain treatment to youth and families in engaging ways
discuss the what, the why and the how of the treatment plan and course of treatment
conduct standardized assessments with youth and caregivers and provide feedback about what was learned in a simple, collaborative way
build alliance, normalize families’ experiences, and set goals
let families know how long they can expect treatment to last and when they should expect to see symptom improvement
ask for regular feedback from families about how they believe treatment is going and re-administer assessments
offer clear guidelines for application and practice of treatment concepts outside of session.

About Our Trainings

Introductory Trainings

Trauma- Focused Cognitive Based Therapy (TF-CBT)
Alternatives for Families Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (AF-CBT)
Let’s Connect® (LC)

Advanced and Enrichment Trainings

Childhood Traumatic Grief
Trauma Narration and Processing within TFCBT
TF-CBT with Preschool-Age Children
Cognitive Processing with Youth and Caregivers
Let’s Connect® as a Strategic Enhancement to Trauma Treatment (e.g., TF-CBT, AF-CBT)
Evidence-Based Service Planning Training for Brokers of Service: Child Trauma and Mental Health Screening, Referral and Treatment Tracking for Brokers (child welfare, medical, legal, and school professionals, etc

Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)

TF-CBT is an evidence-based treatment designed to help children and adolescents recover from trauma. TF-CBT that has been evaluated and refined over the past 25 years in response to 21 randomized control trials conducted world-wide. It is a components-based treatment model that incorporates trauma-sensitive interventions with cognitive behavioral, family, and humanistic principles and techniques. TF-CBT has proved successful with children and adolescents (ages 3 to 18) who have significant emotional problems (e.g., symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, fear, anxiety, or depression) related to traumatic life experiences. It can be used with children and adolescents who have experienced a single trauma or multiple traumas in their lives. (https://www.nctsn.org/interventions/trauma-focused-cognitive-behavioral-therapy)

Training in TF-CBT – This interactive training is offered in 2 days or training segments that total 16 hours. Training is available on-site for agencies and also virtually so that we can increase access to this valuable training to clinical providers locally, nationally, and internationally. Contact us and let us know more about the group you’d like to have trained!
TF-CBT Consultation – To support effective implementation, 12 follow up consultation calls are required as part of this training. This will also meet the requirements for the TF-CBT Therapist Certification Program.
Evidence for TF-CBT – To learn more about the evidence base for TF-CBT Treatment visit https://tfcbt.org/

Alternatives For Families: A Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

Alternatives for Families: A Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (AF-CBT) is a trauma-informed, evidence-based treatment (EBT) designed to improve the relationships among youth and caregivers in families. AF-CBT uses a comprehensive approach that targets the risks for conflict and coercion and the clinical consequences of exposure. AF-CBT is applicable for a broad range of families. A family with any of the following may be eligible for AF-CBT:

A family or caregiver and child who experience frequent conflicts, arguments, angry feelings, or explosiveness.
A caregiver who uses or has used harsh physical force or discipline, or worries about doing something that could injure/hurt a child, or has a history of physical or emotional abuse involving one of his/her children.
A child (5-17 years old) who exhibits challenging behaviors such as not listening, fighting, hard to manage, or who shows trauma symptoms (e, g., posttraumatic stress) related to interpersonal trauma.

Many eligible families who receive AF-CBT also experience other challenges such as living in different residences, domestic disputes, substance use, incarceration, and/or prior traumatic experiences.

Let’s Connect®

For family providers and mental health professionals interested in Let’s Connect® training, we offer introductory and advanced training, case consultation and implementation supports. We also offer presentations for broader audiences to provide an overview of Let’s Connect® and an introduction to Let’s Connect® skills.

For Family Providers and Mental Health Professionals:

Two-day, in-person training in Let’s Connect® by a certified trainer is required. During this training, participants will:

Learn about the Let’s Connect model and skills
Practice Let’s Connect Skills through role-play/vignettes
Receive coaching and feedback on use of Let’s Connect Skills by trainers
Learn how to track caregivers’ skill acquisition and use

Our trainings are highly interactive with many opportunities for skills practice (trainer modeling of skills, role play, videotape review of skills) as well as clinical examples, group discussion, and self-reflection.

Let’s Connect Case Consultation. Case consultation is offered to training participants in twice-monthly, one-hour video/web meetings. The consultation package includes 12 one-hour consultations, with the goal of completing a minimum of 10 calls. Case consultation offers an opportunity for interactive, small-group learning and case presentations. Your Let’s Connect consultant will answer questions related to implementation of Let’s Connect with your cases and help you to tailor your delivery of Let’s Connect for the unique needs of the families you serve, while maintaining fidelity to the model.

Case consultation is strongly encouraged. We know from implementation science research that training alone does not result in therapist practice change. Training combined with consultation promotes therapist adherence and fidelity to the treatment model and skill use (Beidas, et al., 2012) which supports overall treatment effectiveness.

For Parents/Caregivers and Communities:

Let’s Connect trainers often provide shorter (typically half-day) presentations for broader audiences (e.g. parents/caregivers, child welfare professionals, educators, academic researchers, other child/family-serving professionals) to build awareness of the Let’s Connect intervention. Presentations are tailored to the audience. Focus areas can include the theory and research that supports Let’s Connect, practical applications, and/or a light introduction to the skills.

Implementation Support

We view the knowledge you gain during in-person training days as a powerful and important first step to integrating new treatment into your practice. However, implementation science research suggests that training alone does not result in therapist practice change; it is the inclusion of ongoing consultation that does promote therapist adherence to the treatment model and skill use (Beidas, Edmunds, Marcus & Kendall; NIRN) ). Six months of case-based consultation (2 hours/month) is offered as part of the training package with all of our Introductory Trainings to support your use of the evidence-based treatment in your own practice following training. Most participants find case-based consultation to be a rich learning experience and especially helpful for maintaining fidelity when applying treatments with complex cases. The complexity of treatment deserves the support consultation provides.

Through web-based and in-person consultation, providers have an opportunity to present actual cases, learn about how colleagues are implementing, and troubleshoot challenges with the guidance of a trained consultant. Providers have the continued support they need during the first six months of implementation, ultimately increasing positive outcomes for the families who receive treatment.

We also offer supervisor consultation to those who are leading and making decisions. We understand that implementation new practices occurs within systems and that providing support across the entire system is critical for sustaining practices.

Community Education & Engagement

Our team is committed to engaging with our colleagues and communities locally and nationally.

We value disseminating our programs and research and learning from others through participation in conferences, keynote speaking events, panels, and other community education events.

We regularly provide education events in person and virtually.