Esperanza NY wants to improve its personalized, therapeutic counseling and case/crisis management services to court-involved youth ages 11-18. Most participants meet the diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder and have experienced multiple incidents of trauma. Esperanza’s counselors struggle to address their participants’ behavior and do not fully address their young people’s underlying trauma. Esperanza proposes to have its field counselors, supervisors, and clinical director train in dyadic developmental psychotherapy (DDP), which is geared to youth who have experienced trauma and have associated attachment difficulties. Staff will be trained to help youth regulate their emotions and behavior and form positive attachments with their families and caregivers.
This grant will support staff training to help improve outcomes for youth who have experienced trauma.
