Bringing the Power of Early Intervention to Young Children and Families Impacted by Trauma: The Potential of the Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention for Young Children

In this learning session, we will use interactive strategies (e.g., word clouds, live audience polling) to review the importance of early intervention with children and families who have experienced potentially traumatic events (PTEs). To reduce symptoms and support resilience and recovery, specialized approaches are required, focusing on early identification and treatment for symptomatic youth and caregivers. The Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention (CFTSI; Marans, Epstein, & Berkowitz, 2024) was developed to address a critical gap in the availability of brief, developmentally appropriate, evidence-based interventions that can be delivered in the acute phase of the trauma response (i.e., immediately after PTEs). CFTSI is a brief (i.e., 5 to 8 session), evidence-based, family-strengthening early intervention that has demonstrated effectiveness for reducing posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in school-aged children and adolescents and reducing and interrupting the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following exposure to PTEs (Berkowitz et al., 2011). Despite its brevity, approximately 80% of children who complete CFTSI are not referred for longer-term, trauma-focused treatment, even among chronically traumatized youth, with important implications for children, families, and overstretched child mental health agencies (Goslin & Epstein, 2024). During this learning session, we will focus on the development and initial pilot findings of a treatment application of CFTSI designed to meet the unique developmental and clinical needs of young children (i.e., aged 3-6 years old).