Phase I Dissemination of Child-Parent Psychotherapy in Minnesota

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Investigator: Alicia Lieberman, PhD
Sponsor: University of Minnesota

Location(s): United States

Description

The Child Trauma Research Program (CTRP) offers assessment and treatment to children birth through five who experience domestic violence or other interpersonal trauma.  An initial assessment involves meetings with the caregiver and with the child; it focuses on their individual functioning and the quality of the relationship. 

Following the assessment, CTRP offers one year of joint child-parent psychotherapy.  This therapy is aimed at improving the parent-child relationship, at helping both parent and child better modulate their feelings, and at helping the parent understand the child’s experience so that the parent can become more effectively protective.  Where it is safe, sessions may be in the home if the parent chooses. 

Services are offered in English, Spanish, and Portuguese by staff and trainees that include psychologists, social workers, pre- and post-doctoral psychology fellows and psychiatric residents, many of whom are bicultural as well as bilingual.