Child Traumatic Stress Program
Is my child eligible for the Child Traumatic Stress Treatment program?
For your child to be eligible for treatment in the current trial, they must meet a list of criteria. These are listed below:
- Children must be at least 7 years of age
- Children must have experienced or witnessed a single-incident stressful (traumatic) life event; for example, car or pedestrian accident, serious falls and other types of accidents, natural disasters (such as bushfire, floods, or cyclones), emergency medical procedures, or suffering from a life-threatening medical condition.
- The stressful life event must have occurred at least 5 months ago
- Children must be suffering from traumatic stress symptoms or Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (i.e., traumatic stress must be the main problem and be significantly affecting your child’s day-to-day life.) We will assess this at the initial assessment.
- Children on medication will need to be on a stable dosage
Our program will not be suitable for your child if they are currently:
- experiencing significant learning delays
- suffering from autism or related disorders (higher functioning Aspergers Disorder will be assessed on an individual basis)
- being physically or sexually abused
- suicidal and/or are self harming
These exclusions are in place to ensure that our treatment programs are delivered to the children that will benefit from them the most. Please remember, we are a research Clinic and so we need to exclude some conditions that cannot be addressed in our current treatment programs. Each child will be carefully assessed to work out whether our treatments are really the most appropriate or whether other programs may be better for them.
What does the Traumatic Stress therapy program involve?
To determine the suitability of the program for your child we will be asking you and your child to complete a clinical assessment interview regarding your child and several questionnaires about you and your child’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours. If your child is assessed as suitable to participate in the study then you will be allocated to drug-free treatment program that consists of up to 2 stages of therapy.
What does the research involve?
In addition to the above, we will ask your family to complete these same interviews and questionnaires again at the end of each of the 2 stages of the therapy program, as well as three months after completion of the program. All parents who attended the initial interview at the clinic must be present at the clinic for the post and follow-up interviews. If this is not possible we ask that the primary care giver attend the post and follow-up interviews. The post and follow-up assessments are integral to our research.
How much will the program cost?
The standard cost for the clinical assessment that will determine whether your child is suitable to attend the program is $150. Our usual treatment costs are $600. However, because this is a research program, we can offer a discounted rate of $200 for the therapy program in return for your participation in all of the research requirements. This cost includes all treatment manuals and tuition.
In addition to the above costs, all families are required to pay a $100 bond at the beginning of treatment. This bond is to help you commit to helping us collect the follow-up data integral to us measuring the scientific merit of our programs. At the completion of the end of each of the 2 stages of the therapy program, as well as the 3 month follow-up assessment (questionnaires and interviews) you will be reimbursed $33.30 for each assessment (total $100). If you decide to withdraw from the program before you have completed a significant portion of the program, that is, your child does not complete Stage 1 of the therapy program, your bond will be returned to you.
What do I do now?
If you have any further enquiries or would like to express interest in our program, please feel free to contact the Clinic directly on (02) 9850-8711.
