Victim Services – The Trauma Resolution Center (TRC) in Miami, Florida is a unique and pioneering trauma services delivery model for trauma survivors who often are plagued with mental health and substance abuse problems following experiences of crime and violence, but are typically denied services in the mental health, substance abuse, and victim assistance worlds because their needs do not “fit” with how those providers have been trained. The TRC serves all types of people who have experienced traumatic events – such as rape, domestic violence, witnessing violence and/or murder, torture, kidnapping and numerous other types of human to human violence – in an integrated and empowering short-term series of group and individual sessions that specifically address trauma and the range of its mental health, substance abuse, and victimization related personal impacts. A trauma services model termed “Traumatic Incident Resolution” (TIR) is used by TRC and applied to each staff member who completes the TIR process him or herself prior to beginning to counsel clients using the TIR model to accomplish trauma resolution. A host of the client’s additional personal and life style issues related to the traumatic event(s) are also addressed by TRC staff through advocacy and case management. With a full time staff of 16 that treats approximately 800 clients per year, in addition to providing basic advocacy/case management services for over 800 more clients per year, the TRC is an extremely economical human services program model with tremendous bang for the buck. It is a very transformative approach to trauma services design and delivery that merits national attention and application in a wide variety of communities.

Susan E. Salasin
Director, Violence and Trauma Program
Community Support Branch
Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, HHS