The Adolescent Traumatic Stress and Substance Abuse (ATSSA) Program
The ATSSA’s mission has been to improve the standard of care for adolescents with co-occurring traumatic stress and substance use through identifying and developing treatment and service approaches for this underserved population. From 2003–2007, an integrated intervention for traumatic stress and substance abuse was developed, piloted, and implemented among several sites of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. The resulting intervention, Trauma Systems Therapy for adolescent Substance Abuse (TST-SA) employs a socio-ecological approach to address emotional regulation and environmental stability needs of youth and families.
The ATSSA program has led the development of a toolkit for providers and consumers, titled: “Understanding Links between Adolescent Trauma and Substance Abuse: A toolkit for providers.” This tookit is freely available at http://www.nctsnet.org/nccts/nav.do?pid=ctr_top_adol.
