Project title: BRAVE Durham: Building Resilience After Violent Events

The Center for Child & Family Health proposes to implement BRAVE Durham: Building Resilience After Violent Events. The purpose is to build the capacity of families and our community to support children and youth exposed to violence in the Durham, NC area. Project activities include: the development of a comprehensive plan to address children exposed to violence using a team of community stakeholders, the provision of community-based prevention and intervention services to youth and parents/caregivers to reduce the impact of exposure to violence, and the provision of evidence-based mental health therapy for youth to reduce post-traumatic stress symptoms. Expected outcomes include: a comprehensive community plan to assure a systemwide and coordinated response to children exposed to violence; successful provision of acute response in the immediate aftermath of violence using the National Child Traumatic Stress Network’s promising practice Psychological First Aid; increased protective factors, such as improved parent-child relationship and self-esteem, through the implementation of community-based interventions (Circles of Hope, Coping Together, Living in Future Tense, and Change Your Words. Change Your World.); and reduced symptoms of traumatic stress and other symptoms through the provision of an array of evidence-based and promising practice mental health treatments (Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Parent-Child Interaction Therapy; Structured Psychotherapy for Adolescents Responding to Chronic Stress; and Attachment, Self-regulation, and Competence). Children and youth ages 5-18 exposed to violence and their families are the intended beneficiaries of the project. Services will be available to all youth in the area, yet will focus on reducing barriers and providing equity for Black or African American and Hispanic or Latinx children and their families. Subrecipient activities include a support group for Black parents, a coping program for families, a youth leadership program, and a brief writing intervention for reframing trauma for youth and parents to be delivered by two community agencies devoted to reducing racial disparities: Empowered Parents in Community and Together for Resilient Youth.