Associate Professor Kathryn Collins, PhD, and her team were awarded a new two-year award in partnership with the International Rescue Committee (IRC), funded by the Kansas Department of Children and Families to bring Trauma Adapted Family Connections (TA-FC) to families with minor children who are enduring trauma and living in poverty. Dr. Collins and her team are working together to reach families who have additional barriers due to linguistic access and cultural marginalization. Collins and team are excited for this partnership with the IRC, an expert in providing lifesaving and life-changing supports to some of the world’s most at-risk people – both abroad and in U.S. communities. The organization that became the IRC was created in the United States at the request of its chief, Albert Einstein in 1933 and serves over 40 countries.
As part of the Family Informed Trauma Treatment (FITT) Center at the University of Maryland, TA-FC is funded by SAMSHA and was developed by Drs. Kathryn Collins and Frederick Strieder and their team of expert clinicians and researchers in trauma service delivery to families living in poverty. TA-FC is an evidence-based and manualized prevention intervention program that is designed to holistically work with families with the triple aim of introducing protective factors, healing adverse impacts of trauma, and increasing caregiver functioning and behavior. TA-FC eliminates barriers to participation for highly burdened families, including meeting families in their home or in the community. To learn more, contact Dr. Collins at kcollins@ssw.umaryland.edu