Institute for Trauma Treatment in Schools 

Simmons University announced today that its School of Social Work’sCenter for Innovation in Behavioral Health Education and Research (CIBER) has received a prestigious grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

The $2.9 million grant from SAMHSA will fund the Institute for Trauma Treatment in Schools (ITTS), which will provide training to 850 Masters of Social Work students and 900 school-based practitioners in Massachusetts and across the nation on school-based mental health and trauma. This is a five-year collaborative project between Simmons University’s CIBER and the Alliance for Inclusion and Prevention – organizations with a long history of providing state-of-the-art trauma training in school-based interventions.

“Far too many children lack access to vital care that can help them process and cope with the effects of trauma, and Simmons is honored to receive this grant that will help train social work students and school-based practitioners in this critical area,” said Melinda Gushwa, Director of the Simmons School of Social Work and Principal Investigator for the grant. “Untreated trauma in children has lifelong consequences, and this grant will have a profound impact on thousands of children each year who have endured trauma and other adverse childhood experiences.”