| Elizabeth Thompson, Ph.D. Mariflor S. Jamora, M.D. | This program is one of the winners |
The Kennedy Krieger Family Center provides high-quality, culturally sensitive, comprehensive clinical programs and community-based services for children and families. The multidisciplinary staff of the Family Center includes child psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, Spanish speaking clinical social workers, certified professional counselors, early childhood teachers, family advocates, and recreational therapy assistants. Support staff provide operational and clinical support.
The Family Center emphasizes the developmental, emotional and behavioral problems of children and families. The Family Center is committed to developing and sustaining the following: specialized clinical services; community outreach and advocacy services; prevention and family support programs; implementation of best practices; and education and training programs; and research that informs best practices.
The Family Center is one of 51 organizations comprising the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). The NCTSN is a network of organizations from all over the United States, funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). NCTSN is a national resource which addresses the problem of childhood trauma defines best practices, raises public awareness and improves access to services for families and children who experience trauma. Through its participation in NCTSN, the Family Center demonstrates its commitment to providing quality clinical services using evidenced-based and evidenced-informed assessment and treatment practices.
The Family Center offers a range of trauma-informed services, including prevention, treatment, specialized foster care, community outreach, advocacy, research, and training through the programs listed below.
- an outpatient program which provides both clinic and comunity based services
- Therapeutic Family Care Program
- Early Head Start Program
OUTPATIENT MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM:
The Kennedy Krieger Family Center outpatient program provides mental health and support services to children, adolescents, and families who experience or may be at risk for trauma through physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, domestic and community violence. Prevention, early intervention, assessment, and treatment are part of the continuum of services.
This program is a winner of one of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse & Mental Health Service Administration's (SAMHSA), 2009 Science and Service Awards in the category of Treatment of Mental Illness and Recovery Support Services for its implementation of Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and evidenced based intervention.
Clinic Based Services:
Birth to Five Clinic is an inter-disciplinary clinic resource for infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their families. Assessment, evaluation, consultation and treatment are targeted to address social, emotional, cognitive, motor, speech and language and developmental needs. Reasons for referrals include aggressive/disruptive behavior, excessive crying, issues related to attachment, adjustment issues, difficulty with sleeping, eating, toileting, inattention, impulsivity and developmental delays.
Family Clinic serves families and children ages 3 -18 who are seeking to improve communication, develop more effective parenting strategies, come to terms with past trauma/major losses and prevent out-of-home placement of special needs children. The clinic specializes in the treatment of families who have experienced inter-generational chronic trauma. Family assessments and consultations with extended family, school, child welfare agencies and courts are also available.
Group Clinic offers theme-centered groups to help children and adolescents learn new strategies to deal with special concerns. Groups are designed to enhance social and problem solving skills, promote emotional and social development and reduce the effects of trauma. Each child’s developmental needs and level of understanding of his/her conflict is carefully considered to match treatment needs with the appropriate group.
SMART (Safety Mentoring Advocacy Recovery and Treatment) Clinic is an intensive, integrated eighteen-month therapeutic treatment model with community intervention designed to provide services for sexualized children (kids who are touching other kids in a sexual manner) between the ages of 4 and 11 who have a history of sexual abuse. Services provided include individual, group, and family therapy, psychological screening, mentoring and community consultations.
STAR (Safety Treatment Advocacy and Recovery) Clinic provides time-limited early intervention individual, family and group services to meet the immediate mental health needs of children and their families who are in crisis because of sexual abuse/assault. The clinic also serves children whose behaviors place them or others at high risk for sexual victimization, even if there has been no disclosure of abuse or assault. Safety and prevention of recurrence are a major focus of the treatment services provided.
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) Clinic uses an evidence-based treatment model to help children ages 4 - 18 and their caregivers overcome the negative effects of traumatic life events. Traumas range from sexual abuse, physical abuse, domestic or community violence, and traumatic grief/loss.
Parent-Child Interaction Therapy Clinic uses an evidence-based treatment model of highly specified, step-by-step, live-coaching sessions with the caregiver and child ages 2 - 7. Caregivers are taught and coached in relationship building skills using a social learning model and a “bug-in-the-ear” transmitter system while engaging in developmentally appropriate play with their child. Emphasis is placed on developing positive caregiver-child interaction patterns.
New Start Clinic uses an evidence based mental health intervention designed to help families make changes that will help ensure a more positive future for parents and children that have been involved in child physical abuse.
Unity Clinic is a specialized clinical program providing therapy to children or families who are deaf or hard of hearing and have been affected by trauma. Mental health services are available either in American Sign Language or through signed interpretation by a dually certified interpreter working with a therapist.
The Mind/Body Clinic is dedicated to exploring and implementing complimentary and alternative therapies with children who have experienced trauma. Traumas range from abuse, neglect, abandonment to domestic and community violence. Currently, clinic areas focuses are depression and emotional and behavioral dysregulation.
The Eagle Project — The Eagle Project provides trauma-informed mental health services to military families in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan area. Trained clinicians attend to the unique challenges faced by Service personnel and their families, including separation from social supports, repeated deployment, relocations and high levels of stress.
Life Skills/Life Story and SPARCS (Structured Psychotherapy with Adolescents Responding to Chronic Stress) are available for children ages 12-18. These evidence based treatments target adolescents who have experienced a single traumatic life event or who live in chronically traumatic environments.
Trauma Systems Therapy for Adolescent Substance Abuse (TST-SA) is a trauma informed mental health intervention geared to the needs of trauma exposed children ages 12-18 who have problems with substance/alcohol abuse. Individual and family therapy services are focused on improving safety in the family, reducing substance/alcohol use and addressing trauma symptoms.
Psychological Evaluation provides psychological assessment and consultation to evaluate the cognitive, social and emotional functioning of children ages 6-18. Reasons for referral include concerns such as the impact of trauma on development and functioning, behavioral difficulties, appropriate school placements and permanency planning needs.
Psychiatric Assessment and Medication Management are offered to children and families already in treatment whose capacities for emotional and behavioral self regulation have been impaired by family histories of substance abuse and mental disorders, prenatal substance exposure, poor prenatal care, natal complications, postnatal abuse and neglect, exposure to environmental toxins, poor attachment experiences and out of home placements with relatives or foster care.
Individual Treatment is available for children ages 3-18. Both long- and short-term treatment is available to address emotional and behavioral difficulties due to trauma, loss, adoption, out-of-home placements, attention problems/impulsivity, lying, stealing, aggression, attachment, developmental delays, permanency and depression. All treatment includes caregivers and family members in developing treatment plans. Consultations with school, child welfare agencies and courts are also available.
Community Based Services:
Case Management Services are provided for children and families who are victimized through abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, and/or community violence.
Home-Based Therapy offers an in-home resource for children and their families ages 3-18 who have emotional, behavioral and developmental disorders. This community-based treatment is designed to stabilize children while strengthening and preserving families.
School-Based Mental Health serves elementary school children and their families within four Baltimore City Elementary Schools. Both long- and short-term treatment services are available to address emotional and behavioral difficulties. Attention problems/impulsivity, classroom disruption, lying, stealing, aggression, attachment, developmental delays, depression and behavior management strategies are among the clinical issues addressed in treatment.
Interesting trends:
In response to the needs of the children and families we serve and with foundation support, grant funding and private insurance reimbursement, Family Center staff have created unique clinics and service delivery models. Victims of emotional, physical and sexual abuse and emotional and physical neglect benefit from quality clinical interventions that incorporate community and family contexts. Caregivers, as well as children and youth, come to understand their past traumatic experiences and how these experiences shape their ability to relate to others. Caregivers learn how to modify their own behaviors, change the behaviors of the children and youth they care for and become effective advocates for themselves in personal relationships as well as in relationships within their communities.
TRAUMA TRAINING ACADEMY
The Family Center’s Trauma Training Academy improves the quality of services provided to children and families who have experienced trauma by educating and training mental health and other child service providers in the Baltimore Metropolitan area and across the nation on the developmental and behavioral consequences of trauma, evidence-based treatments, and trauma-informed treatment approaches.
For additional information or to receive training announcement notifications send an e-mail to: traumatrainingacademy@kennedykrieger.org
THERAPEUTIC FOSTER CARE PROGRAM:
Therapeutic Foster Care provides a continuum of family-based care and services to children and adolescents with special needs. The children have a history of or are at risk of institutional and hospital placements. Emphasis is placed on the relationship between parent and child. Foster parents and clinical social work staff are highly trained to meet the emotional and physical needs of each child. Services include therapeutic foster care placements, adoption services, parent or foster parent training, and technical assistance to the community. A primary goal of the program is to ensure a permanent home.
Interesting Trends:
Most of the children and youth who are referred to the Kennedy Krieger Family Center Therapeutic Family Care have failed in at least five previous out of home placements. They have multiple developmental disabilities, complex serious medical conditions and emotional and behavioral problems. Often they have been victims of abuse and neglect and consequently struggle with being able to sustain nurturing relationships with adults and peers. They struggle to understand the abuse and neglect they have experienced at the hands of previous care givers and lack confident expectation that families are able to provide a safe trusting environment for them. Through a caring relationship in a family environment, they learn to attach to others and trust that their needs will be met. In the past few years the program has focused on the development of the adoptions component of its services. This allows children placed within the program who do not have a potential permanent home to immediately connect with a family that may eventually become a permanent placement.
EARLY HEAD START PROGRAM:
Early Head Start is a family support and early childhood intervention program located in Southeast Baltimore. The program provides center and community-based education and coordination services for low-income, at risk families with children from birth to age three and pregnant women. Center- and home-based activities include home environment assessments, early childhood development services, adult education, parent education and coordination with community health, mental health childcare and educational resources.
Interesting Trends:
The early childhood years are the foundation for individual development and to establish the essential dynamics between the child and adult that will serve as the underpinning for all relationships in the future. The Family Center Early Head Start Program (EHS) creates the environment and services that allow parents to enjoy their interaction with their children, peers and staff. Participants grow to be increasingly self-sufficient, both economically and personally. Center services are based on an early childhood and adult education model that includes the active involvement of parents including their input into program development. The Home-Based component of EHS services is linked to the center parent education curriculum and is designed to support EHS participants in directing the course of their personal development and successful management of the lives of the children and family members.
Therapeutic Foster Care: Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.,
Early Head Start: Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
To make a referral or request an initial evaluation contact:
Denise WirtIntake Coordinator
Phone: (443) 923-5980
wirt@kennedykrieger.org
Monica Beltran: LCSW-C, ADTR
Social Work Manager
Phone: (443) 923-5950
beltran@kennedykrieger.org
For additional information about our programs contact:
Outpatient Mental Health Program:
Sarah Gardner, LCSW-C
Director of Clinical Services
Phone: (443) 923-5957
gardner@kennedykrieger.org
Therapeutic Foster Care:
Paul D. Brylske, M.S.W., L.C.S.W.-C., B.C.,
Director
(443) 923-5989
brylske@kennedykrieger.org
Early Head Start:
Gayne Barlow-Kemper, M.S.
Director
(443) 923-4300
kemper@kennedykrieger.org
Adjustment Disorder
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
Anxiety Disorder
Separation Anxiety Disorder
Reactive Attachment Disorder of Infancy or Early Childhood
ADHD
Oppositional Defiant Disorder
Disruptive Behavior Disorder
Depression/Depressive Disorder
Mood Disorder
Dysthymic Disorder
·Development and Learning, Center for
·Neuropsychology and Developmental Psychology Clinic
·Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic
·Social Work Outpatient Mental Health Program
·Southeast Baltimore Early Head Start
·Therapeutic Foster Care
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (http://www.nctsnet.org)
The International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS)
(http://www.istss.org/)
National Association of Social Workers
(http://www.socialworkers.org)
American Psychological Association
(http://www.apa.org)
The Annie E. Casey Foundation
(http://www.aecf.org/kidscount)
National Head Start Association
(http://www.nhsa.org)
American Academy of Pediatrics
(http://www.aap.org)
Foster Parent Community
(http://www.fosterparents.com)
Parenting Toolbox
(http://www.parentingtoolbox.com)
International Child Abuse Network
(http://www.yesican.org)
American Professional Society on Abuse of Children
(http://www.apsac.org)
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
(http://www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org)
Child Welfare League of America
(http://www.cwla.org)
Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute
(http://www.adoptioninstitute.org)
The National Academies
(http://www.national-academies.org)
Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
(http://www.nationalacademies.org/behavior/)
National Academy Press
(http://www.nap.edu)
National Institute of Mental Health
(http://www.nimh.nih.gov)
Continuums l Clinical Laboratories l Clinical Disciplines/Depts.