The National Child Traumatic Stress Network: Collaborating to improve the standard of care

Mental health practitioners are often called upon to provide services to children, adolescents, and families in the aftermath of traumatic experiences such as child neglect, sexual or physical abuse, family/domestic violence, sexual assault, interpersonal violence. school and community violence, serious accidental injury, catastrophic medical illness, traumatic bereavement, or mass casualty events, including natural and man-made disasters. The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) was established in 2001 to raise the standard of care and improve access to services for traumatized children, their families, and communities throughout the United States. This article describes the development of the NCTSN, its structure, programs, and many of the products and resources-including online lectures, training programs and videos, and searchable databases of child trauma resources-available through the NCTSN Web site (www.nctsn.org) to assist professionals in providing state-of-the-art assessment, treatment, and services to these children and their families.