Institute Seeks to Improve Childhood Trauma Treatment
PrintOctober 24, 2008 | Written by Cory Chandler
In this era of school shootings, of war deaths, of sexual abuse and terror threats, proper treatment for traumatized children and families is perhaps as necessary as ever.
Texas Tech University Human Development and Family Studies professor, Jeffrey Wherry, is reaching out across campus and into the community to improve screening and treatment services for South Plains trauma victims.
Director of Texas Tech University’s new Institute for Child and Family Studies, Wherry is applying 19 years of experience treating child sexual abuse victims under the broader umbrella of childhood trauma, an affliction that can stem from national disasters, classroom violence or any number of scarring experiences.
Through the Institute, he hopes to tap expertise and resources from across Texas Tech and the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center to fine-tune existing services and offer training for students seeking degrees in fields where they would regularly encounter traumatized children.
“What happens is, people graduate in fields like pediatrics, psychiatry or psychology and they have been exposed to one or maybe two classes dealing with issues related to trauma,” Wherry said. “They are doing the best they can to address the needs of their clients, but they have not systematically been exposed to trauma training.”
Institute collaborators also will evaluate treatment programs and help develop new ones based on methods that have proven effectiveness. One goal of the Institute: working with grant writers to secure funding where they determine treatment gaps exist.
Wherry hopes to leverage Texas Tech’s regional status to provide services and guidance in West Texas’ rural communities and eventually produce a body of research to guide federal policymakers.
Jeffrey Wherry, Rockwell Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, College of Human Sciences, Texas Tech University, (806) 742-3000 ext. 242, or jeffrey.wherry@ttu.edu.