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THE CHILDTRAUMA ACADEMY A LEARNING COMMUNITY ABOUT CTA The ChildTrauma Academy is a Community of Practice working to improve the lives of high-risk children through education, research and the dissemination of innovation. ​ A major activity of the CTA is to translate emerging findings about the human brain and child development into practical implications for the ways we nurture, protect, enrich, educate and heal children. The “translational neuroscience” work of the CTA has resulted in a range of innovative programs in therapeutic, child protection and educational systems. ​ Etienne Wenger, a leading social learning theorist, defines communities of practice as groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. This model has been discussed as optimal for promoting social change in our current complex world. The CTA works to create collaborative working relationships between organizations and individuals to most effectively promote positive change for children. ​ The CTA started as a typical center of excellence in an academic setting, initially at The University of Chicago and later at Baylor College of Medicine. Over time however, it was clear that the problems of abuse and neglect in children were much more complex and multi-dimensional in ways that our medical model was unable to address. ​ A medical school centered work group investigating and solving physiological problems in humans makes sense. Solving problems which involve parenting, education, the law, child protection systems, mental health, law enforcement and a host of related systems across every professional discipline is more challenging. In response to this challenge we have created a collaborative, interdisciplinary virtual Center of Excellence, The ChildTrauma Academy. ​ OUR MISSION & STRATEGY The mission of the ChildTrauma Academy is to help improve the lives of traumatized and maltreated children — by improving the systems that educate, nurture, protect and enrich these children. We focus our efforts on education, program consultation, research and disseminating innovations in the field. ​ Essential to this process is the collaboration of all sectors of society. As such, we engage in a continuous process of identifying key partners, drawn from academia, the corporate world, private organizations and public sector systems. While each partnership has a distinct focus– identifying best practices in child protection, evaluating the latest research in child development, defining optimal ways to provide resources to parents or creating a novel therapeutic approach with traumatized children– all are engaged in the continuous process of testing, refining and distributing innovations that can improve children's lives. CONTACT The ChildTrauma Academy 5161 San Felipe, Suite 320 Houston, TX 77056 (866) 943-9779 HOME ABOUT LIBRARY CONTACT More...