Government Grants & Research Projects

CRT’s Research Department is currently working on multiple active grants and projects, each detailed below. Past projects and achievements are also listed here. For more information, contact our Director of Research Anne Wells, PhD.

Gun Violence Prevention Program
Cook County Health Stronger Together
Youth Mental Health First Aid Training
Early Mental Health Program

Gun Violence Prevention Program

Cook County Justice Advisory Council-funded Gun Violence Prevention Program

The Justice Advisory Council of Cook County granted Children’s Research Triangle a three-year grant for Youth Moving in New Directions (Youth MIND), a trauma-informed school gun violence prevention program. The program aims to reduce the risk of violence among students at 10 schools on Chicago’s South and West sides and near suburban communities. All of the Chicago schools served by Youth MIND are in the 15 community areas identified by the Chicago mayor’s office as being at higher risk of violence than the rest of the city, experiencing more than 50% of the serious victimizations in Chicago while making up only 30% of the total population.

Youth MIND uses a trauma-informed framework and evidence-based treatments to address the impact of childhood exposure to violence and trauma. Youth MIND serves students, their families, school personnel and other service providers working within each school. Youth MIND uses a 3-tiered approach to co-locate services within our 10 partner schools to create system-wide changes in their approach to prevention and intervention in youth violence, including gun violence. This program establishes school-based Behavioral Health Teams, conducts Trauma Informed Organizational Assessments, and develops universal screening and prevention and crisis management initiatives including the implementation of group, individual and family evidence-based therapy. Youth MIND also provides trauma and mental health–related trainings and intensive consultation for school personnel to increase knowledge and skills necessary for reducing violence among students, while decreasing secondary traumatic stress and burnout.

Youth MIND Schools

Project Team

Tracey Bell-Hodgman, LCSW

Project Director

Cassandra Boyd, MSW

Lead Evaluator

Samantha Orbach, PsyD

Training Coordinator

Venezah St. Louis, LCSW

Project Coordinator

Cook County Health Stronger Together

Cook County Health Stronger Together: Building a More Equitable Behavioral Health System

Through this grant program, CRT is addressing insufficient mental health services for low income, Black and Brown youth ages 0-18 and their families, including those with limited English-language proficiency, from Austin, East Garfield Park, North Lawndale, and Roseland or domestic violence impacted families living in a shelter. The program increases access to mental healthcare and improves mental health outcomes through a full continuum of high quality, community- and trauma-informed direct mental health services, including screening, assessment, therapeutic care plans, and evidence-based interventions at community partners located directly in these communities, as well as increases the number of child-serving professionals and parents/caregivers who are knowledgeable about the impact of complex trauma on youth mental health through training and partner-staff consultation.

Project Team

M. Gabriela Rodriguez, Bilingual Child and Family Therapist

Project Director

Anne Wells, Ph.D.

Project Evaluator

Youth Mental Health First Aid Training

SAMHSA funded Youth Mental Health First Aid Training Grant

For this project, CRT will provide Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) training to organizations serving high-risk youth located in the Chicago Metropolitan area in predominantly low-income, minority communities facing disparities in mental health identification and treatment. The target training population for the project works in a range of fields that have frequent contact with youth who are at significant risk of developing mental health disorders, including child protective agencies, faith-based organizations, gang violence prevention groups, youth mentoring agencies, family support/teen parenting programs, schools and educational institutions, domestic violence shelters, juvenile and family court, medical providers, and military-serving organizations. The high-risk youth served by these agencies include youth exposed to community violence; youth from homes with domestic violence; youth who have experienced child maltreatment; youth in foster care; children of military service members; and youth who have experienced prenatal substance exposure. Many youth fall into several of these risk categories simultaneously, and interface with multiple professionals and paraprofessionals. The youth in these high-risk groups have well-documented, heightened rates of serious mental health disorders and emotional disturbance. The overarching purpose of this project is to increase both the identification of mental health disorders and the referral of high-risk youth to appropriate services throughout the Chicago Metropolitan area. This project will provide valuable training to participants on recognizing the symptoms of common mental illnesses and substance use disorders, strategies to de-escalate crisis situations safely, and how to initiate timely referrals to mental health and substance abuse resources available in the community. This information is vital for the many front-line disciplines that interact with youth exhibiting untreated mental health disorders and crises on a daily basis.

Project Team

Linda Schwartz, Ph.D.

Co-Project Director

Samantha Orbach, PsyD

Co-Project Director, Outreach Coordinator

Anne Wells, Ph.D.

Project Evaluator

Wendy Kovacs, Ph.D.

Lead Trainer

Early Mental Health Program

The Early Mental Health Program (EMHP) is a multicomponent treatment program providing comprehensive services to children ages 0-12 with, and at risk for, significant mental health challenges. The program expands upon CRT’s existing services, and includes screening, psychological evaluation, therapy, parent and community training, and consultation. Services are offered both at CRT’s downtown clinic and at our community partner sites around the Chicago Metropolitan Area. All children ages 0 to 12 and their families who come to CRT undergo an initial screening to identify risk factors for mental health challenges. Those identified as at-risk for or having mental health challenges are referred to psychological evaluation and/or therapy services with CRT clinicians. Therapy services at the EMHP will include Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP), Theraplay, and Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT). Prevention is another critical component to decreasing risk factors associated with significant mental health challenges To this end, the EMHP offers Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP) at community sites for parents of children ages 0 to 12. Additionally, community professionals who work with children will receive training on diagnostic and treatment issues related to significant mental health challenges, and community agencies will receive ongoing early childhood consultation services from program staff. Funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, CRT looks forward to serving at least 2,970 people through the EMHP over the five-year grant cycle.