"The Child Trauma Academy offers a series of cost-effective introduction to viewing maltreated and traumatized children through the lens of neurodevelopment. Each week, for 10 weeks, participants sit in on a 1.5 hour clinical consultation/interdisciplinary staffing conducted by Dr. Perry and the ChildTrauma Academy Fellows. During each session, the clinical challenges posed by a client (as presented by a subscribing clinician) are reviewed and discussed in context of a developmental/neurodevelopmental perspective. The case-based series' teaching model, which requires participants to join a conference call as well as log in to an Internet site providing visual supplementation, has been very useful in helping clinicians and front-line staff better understand the neurodevelopmental principles involved in many of the primary symptoms displayed by the children they serve. "

The purpose of this conference is to strengthen the knowledge, skills, strategies, and alliances of those who work with expectant families, infants, toddlers, parents and communities to build a strong foundation for healthy development. The conference is designed for professionals in public health, health care, social work/mental health, child care, early childhood education, ECFE, ECSE, School Readiness, Early Head Start, child abuse prevention, home visiting, parenting education, family law, and child support, and those who work with refugee and immigrant communities, the field of fatherhood, and other helping professions.

This year’s conference promises new opportunities to share information essential to improving service systems for children with serious emotional and behavioral disturbances and their families.

The three-day conference will include discussions on issues related to the handling of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, and elder abuse cases in the context of the Family Justice Center model. The conference faculty includes nationally & internationally recognized subject matter experts, advocates, and survivors.