Advisory Board

The Advisory Board is a critical component of the Initiative. It is composed of 18 individuals who have been selected based on their lived experience and/or role in the following :mental health delivery system level expertise, directors of NCTSN agencies, staff/practitioners at NCTSN agencies, and representative deans, faculty, and students from schools of social work. In the creation of the Advisory Board, we placed an emphasis on recruiting family members and professionals who represent diverse voices, and eleven of the eighteen members are Black, Indigenous or people of color. Many represent minority-serving institutions.

The composition of the board has been extremely important in informing the review of our materials. The first year of the Initiative is devoted to the creation of a Common Trauma-Informed Practice elements curriculum using three cases developed by trauma treatment experts. This curriculum forms the basis for both an online course for mental health practitioners and for an MSW course for schools of social work. Advisory Board members have devoted their time to the review of many drafts of these products and their feedback has informed the end product and assured a diversity, equity, and inclusiveness focus.