Enhancing early engagement of families in mental health assessment and EBP is a priority for CAC leaders through NCA. To address this need, NCA is partnering with the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC) on a new training initiative, Enhance Early Engagement Training for CAC Victim Advocates, or E3. E3 aims to increase the proportion of children and their caregivers served by CACs who engage in mental health services.
To bolster the important work victim advocates already do with families, the focus of the current project is to provide training to victim advocates in brief mental health screening, evidence-based practice, identification and referrals, trauma responses, and evidence-based engagement skills. E3 training will be conducted in conjunction with a research project supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH;R34MH118486) that will examine the best methods of training and determine if the training provided translates into improved family engagement in mental health services. As in all CAC-based projects, active participation by CAC directors is critical to the success of the training.