The Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools program is designed to help students exposed to traumatic events who are experiencing emotional or behavioral problems. The new edition provides updates from two decades of field experience.

Education professionals are increasingly aware of the negative effect that exposure to trauma has on both the social and academic lives of children. Witnessing violence, being in a severe accident, or being physically injured are all things that can contribute to depression, anxiety, and even post-traumatic stress disorder in young people. Children who have experienced trauma are more likely to do worse in school or to miss more classes, and they have more interpersonal social problems that impede later success in life. Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) is the first program designed to help school counselors and psychologists work with students to significantly reduce the symptoms associated with trauma. This easy-to-use, evidence-based guide uses cognitive-behavioral therapy-a practical, positive approach to modifying behavior-to foster and build skills children need as they cope with trauma and its aftermath. Developed in inner city schools by trained mental health clinicians, this early intervention program teaches schools to recognize signs of commonly experienced traumas and use techniques proven to have an impact on traumatic stress, depression, and anxiety. The CBITS manual includes complete plans for group and individual sessions with children, background information and session plans for educating parents and teachers about cognitive-behavioral therapy, and several pages of reproducible forms and worksheets.

CBITS was developed for use by school-based mental health professionals for any student with symptoms of distress following exposure to trauma. SSET was adapted from CBITS for use by any school personnel with the time and interest to work with students affected by trauma. This toolkit assists social workers, school-based mental health professionals, and school personnel in adapting these interventions for use with youth who are in foster care.

Exposure to traumatic events among youth is relatively common. Almost all youth experience initial distress as a reaction to such events, but, for most, natural resilience causes the distress to gradually subside. However, a substantial minority continue to experience distress in the months after trauma exposure. The Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) program was designed for use with groups of students who have experienced significant traumatic experiences and are suffering from related emotional or behavioral problems, particularly symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. Delivered by school-based clinicians and taking into account cultural context, it uses a variety of proven cognitive behavioral techniques in an early intervention approach, including psychoeducation about trauma and its consequences, relaxation training, learning to monitor stress or anxiety levels, recognizing maladaptive thinking, challenging unhelpful thoughts, social problem-solving, creating a trauma narrative and processing the traumatic event, and facing trauma-related anxieties rather than avoiding them. CBITS focuses primarily on three goals: decreasing current symptoms related to trauma exposure, building skills for handling stress and anxiety, and building peer and caregiver support. In this new adaptation, a team of experts convened by the University of Montana adapted the CBITS program for American Indian youth, weaving in culturally appropriate and meaningful concepts about resilience and healing while maintaining CBITS' core cognitive-behavioral skill-building techniques.--

Abstract: The purpose of this project was to write a proposal for funding to implement Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) for youth ages 10-15 years who have exhibited posttraumatic stress symptoms following exposure to trauma. This grant proposal included information on the prevalence of traumatic exposure among youth and the need for CBITS treatment to address posttraumatic stress symptoms. Efficacy of CBITS and its core values, specific components, and curriculum were introduced. Through the CBITS program, youth will receive information on relationships of feelings, thoughts, and actions, as well as the importance of processing them and the skills required to alleviate posttrauma symptoms. Parents (or primary caretakers) will learn parenting skills to care for their children's behavioral or emotional issues related to exposure to trauma. Through participation in the CBITS program, family relationships will be strengthened and youth will regain hope for the future and self-confidence in mastering daily tasks and coping with life challenges.

Childhood anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) represent some of the most common mental health disorders affecting young people, often leading to major life impairments. This book brings together the world's leaders in treatment science to provide evidence-based psychosocial interventions for these disorders. It supplies practitioners and researchers with innovations in clinical science, highlighting advances in technology and neuroscientific discovery which have informed the development of these novel treatment advances. The authors tackle the two main challenges facing the field of childhood psychopathology: improving access to evidence-based cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) through innovations in treatment delivery, and increasing the positive outcomes for youth through unique therapies. Any reader who wants to be informed on the latest approaches to cognitive and behavioural interventions and how to apply them will benefit from this book.