BESTFORCAN

Physical or sexual abuse and neglect can have multiple and serious effects on the mental health of children and adolescents. In order to treat the consequences of experiences of abuse and neglect in children and adolescents, specific trauma-focused psychotherapeutic treatment approaches have been developed, the effectiveness of which has already been confirmed many times. One such therapeutic approach is trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (tf-CBT) according to Cohen, Mannarino and Deblinger.
So far, however, only a few people in Germany have received this scientifically based psychotherapy. Our “BESTFORCAN” (“Bringing empirically supported treatments to children and adolescents after child abuse and neglect”) project, funded by the Federal Ministry for Research and Education, has therefore set itself the goal of promoting this treatment approach to more traumatized children and adolescents aged 5-21 years accessible in Germany. This includes targeted, free advanced training and supervision of child and adolescent psychotherapists as well as child and adolescent psychotherapists in training in many regions in Germany. In addition, these psychotherapists are networked in interdisciplinary, regional help networks with paediatricians and employees of child and youth welfare. The youth welfare staff and paediatricians are trained to recognize trauma-related disorders in children and adolescents and to refer those affected as quickly as possible to a suitable psychotherapeutic offer in their region.

Literature:
Cohen, J. A., Mannarino, A. P., & Deblinger, E. (2016). Treating trauma and traumatic grief in children and adolescents. Guilford Publications.

»BESTFORCAN« enables child and adolescent psychotherapists with specialist knowledge of behavioral therapy to learn a very effective psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) free of charge and to apply it under scientific supervision. Half of the participating psychotherapists receive free supervision. As part of the project, paediatricians and employees of child and youth welfare receive the opportunity to train themselves in trauma-related psychological concepts and an established screening method for diagnosing trauma-related disorders. Affected children and adolescents can be referred directly to a suitable psychotherapeutic offer in the region within the help network. For their participation in the project, all of the above-mentioned professional groups receive, among other things, financial allowances and free training (with advanced training points for child and adolescent psychotherapists and paediatricians recognized by the respective professional chambers).

We would be very happy if you would support us in this project and help to improve the psychotherapeutic treatment of traumatized children and adolescents in Germany!

You can easily register here to participate in our project. Further information can be found on the following pages:

• Information for children and young people affected by abuse or neglect and their families or caregivers
• Information for established child and adolescent psychotherapists
• Information for child and adolescent psychotherapists in training
• Information for employees of youth welfare
• Information for pediatricians

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our study coordinator or send us an email to bestforcan@zpt-gu.de.