Creating Trauma Informed Residential Settings: Overview

The Center for Creating Trauma-Informed Residential Settings is part of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). NCTSN is a federal effort to develop a national network of services for children and adolescents who have experienced trauma. The NCTSN mission is to “is to raise the standard of care and improve access to services for traumatized children, their families and communities throughout the United States.” To learn more about the NCTSN, please visit their website.-

The goal of the The Center for Creating Trauma-Informed Residential Settings (CTIRS) is to share research, strategies, and learning to assist residential settings to provide evidence-based trauma-informed care and to share the RCCP’s Therapeutic Crisis Intervention (TCI) system and Children and Residential Experiences (CARE): Creating Conditions for Change program model with residential care centers across the USA.

This Center was established through funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration/U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and is part of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.

Trauma-informed residential settings create a therapeutic milieu where children can heal and thrive. When organizations implement evidence-based program models that guide all adult-child interactions, children can safely engage with trusted adults and successfully practice self-regulation and interpersonal skills.

Trauma-informed residential programs provide ongoing training and support so that all staff understand the impact of trauma on children’s development. Adults learn how to respond to children’s behavior caused or triggered by trauma and how to build relationships that help children feel safe. With support of the organization, trained adults help children learn to regulate emotions and develop their interpersonal skills.

Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research

Association of Children’s Residential Centers