TF-CBTWeb training program for mental health professionals

Over the past six years, more than 100,000 mental health professionals - an average of nearly 1,400 per month - have registered for a free online training program that teaches an innovative therapy to help children recover from post-traumatic stress caused by abuse, violence or natural disaster. TF-CBTWeb (www.tfcbt.musc.edu) was created by the Medical University of South Carolina in collaboration with the CARES (Child Abuse Research, Education and Services) Institute at the UMDNJ-School of Osteopathic Medicine. This web based training allows mental health professionals to self direct their training in trauma-focused cognitive based therapy (TF-CBT), a treatment approach developed by Esther Deblinger, PhD, co-director of the CARES Institute, in collaboration with Drs. Judith Cohen and Anthony Mannarino.

TF-CBTWeb training can usually be completed in about 10 hours. The program includes specific step-by-step instructions for each component of the therapy, streaming video demonstrations of the procedures involved and printable scripts and supplemental resources. The free training is provided as a courtesy of the CARES Institute and its partners in the project, the Medical University of South Carolina, Allegheny General Hospital and the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.

"Although we originally developed TF-CBT to help children recover from sexual abuse, we learned it could be adapted to effectively treat stress disorders caused by a range of traumas," Deblinger said. "We created TF-CBTWeb to make this evidenced-based program available on a scale that we couldn't possibly match through in-person training. The website enables us to extend our help to children around the world who have endured traumas or tragic circumstances."

TF-CBTWeb has most recently become part of the regular staff training for the Victim Support Unit of the Ministry of Justice in Jamaica and is being used in similar fashion by agencies across the United States.

"Researchers in the Congo are using TF-CBT to work with that nation's former child soldiers," Deblinger said. "There is also ongoing NIMH-funded research in Zambia and an international TF-CBT group is forming that will include researchers and clinicians from the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Japan."