Tag Archives: accomplishments

New WestCoast Research: The Intersection of Trauma & Mental Health

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WestCoast Children’s Clinic is releasing a research study, Uncovering Trauma At a Community Clinic: Links to Mental Health Needs, the first in a three-part series on youth mental health. In this first paper, also published by the International Society for Research in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, we discuss how patterns of trauma exposures among youth result in distinct mental health needs. 

For the youth WestCoast serves, we found that the impact of community violence on mental health is just as profound as child abuse and neglect: Youth who experience community violence exposure have the highest level of mental health needs. Additionally, youth that experience a single traumatic event often need as much intensive support as those that have experienced more than one trauma. As such, counting traumas is not as helpful as understanding the whole of the child’s experience when providing support. 

Taken together, our findings reiterate the importance of policy and community-level interventions that address poverty, racism and other environmental factors that deeply impact children and families’ lives.  

To read more about our findings and their implications, read the full paper here.

Thank you to the Zellerbach Family Foundation and our individual donors for supporting WestCoast’s research.

WestCoast report highlights the importance of universal screening for trafficking

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Today WestCoast Children’s Clinic is releasing a brief about the impact of universal screening on identifying children who are trafficked or vulnerable to sex trafficking. Our experience using the Commercial Sexual Exploitation – Identification Tool (CSE-IT) shows that universal screening is critical to both prevention and early intervention. 

Early identification and intervention prevent prolonged abuse

Most children experiencing exploitation go two or more years before anyone notices the signs. After implementing a universal screening protocol, child welfare staff in one large urban county identified ten times as many trafficked youth.

“Screening universally was a game changer for us. It allowed us to do more than just verify our gut instinct about cases. We started to see how all the complicating factors point to exploitation. We’re better able to recognize the abuse.” 
– Child Welfare Manager, large California County 

Universal screening can be implemented in any setting

Screening universally with a validated tool like the CSE-IT only takes 3-5 minutes to complete. WestCoast has trained providers in 20 states to use the CSE-IT in settings such as child welfare, juvenile justice, schools, foster family agencies, child advocacy centers, healthcare settings, and homeless shelters. These agencies range in size and staff capacity, demonstrating that universal screening is feasible in all systems and settings. 

As of this publication, providers have screened nearly 134,000 youth using the CSE-IT, and identified 15,197 youth, or 11%, as having a clear concern for exploitation. If you are interested in learning more about the CSE-IT, please contact us at screening@westcoastcc.org.

To increase the number of exploited youth that get the help they need, please consider donating to WestCoast Children’s Clinic today.

WestCoast at the White House

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On June 10th, WestCoast’s Executive Director, Stacey Katz, presented at the White House to state and national leaders who were brought together for the National Convening on Trafficking and Child Welfare. The U.S. Administration for Children and Families sponsored the event to prepare state child welfare agencies, law enforcement and the courts to implement new legislation, the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act of 2014.

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WestCoast presents at national CANS conference: 2011, 2012, and 2013

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WestCoast has presented our research on sexually exploited minors at the National Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) Conference in 2011, 2012, and 2013. In 2011, Dr. April Fernando, WestCoast’s Chief of Clinical Operations, Research, and Training, won the Program Outcome Champion award for innovation in design and implementation of a CANS tool in our clinic.

WestCoast to serve on CSEC Action Team

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In July 2013, WestCoast’s Executive Director, Stacey Katz, was selected to serve on the California Child Welfare Council’s CSEC Action Team. The CSEC Action Team was convened in response to the recommendations in the Council’s report Ending the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children: A Call for Multi-System Collaboration in California. Dr. Katz will provide the mental health perspective on the problem of child sex trafficking, and is co-chair of the Identification and Prevalence sub-committee.

WestCoast releases white paper on needs and strengths of sexually exploited minors

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In July 2012, WestCoast released a research report with our findings from a two-year collaborative research project focused on the needs and strengths of Sexually Exploited Minors. The report includes mental health practice implications and policy recommendations. Download Research to Action: Sexually Exploited Minors Needs and Strengths to read more about what we found.