Center on Trauma and Children Announces New Name, Website

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 13, 2011) — The University of Kentucky announces the renamed Center on Trauma and Children (CTAC), formerly the Center for Study of Violence Against Children.

The name change was heralded by a new website for the center, which launched this month at www.uky.edu/CTAC.

The new name is meant to represent the center's identity and to send a message to the systems with which it interacts, said Ginny Sprang, the center's director and UK's Buckhorn Professor of Child Welfare and Children’s Mental Health in the College of Social Work. 

"Whether we are serving as court-appointed evaluators in family court, training a group of health care professionals on the emotional effects of pandemic disease, providing intervention to a foster family struggling with their child’s extreme behaviors, or writing a grant to fund the latest research in child trauma, we hope that our name underscores the importance of our work and our unique perspective," Sprang said.

The center's focus is identifying the source of the problems exhibited by children who have been exposed to trauma and promoting recovery. The center works to build a scientific base to support the work of other professionals concentrating on this population. 

"After all, we know that a name is just a name," Sprang said. "But anything we can do to direct the conversation toward the most vulnerable individuals who rarely have a voice in these adult-focused systems, is an important step we are ready to take."

CTAC continues to be dedicated to the enhancement of the health and well-being of children and their families through research, service and dissemination of information about child trauma. Services will continue as before, with CTAC's team of pediatricians, child psychiatrists, social workers, pediatric nurses and psychologists helping traumatized children to become healthy and happy.

MEDIA CONTACT: Keith Hautala, (859) 323-2396; keith.hautala@uky.edu.