A Message from the Directors

Welcome to the website for the Texas Childhood Trauma Research Network (TX-CTRN). Whether you are a caregiver, advocate, healthcare provider, study participant, policymaker, or researcher, we are grateful you are here. The TX-CTRN was created by the 86th Texas Legislature to tackle one of the most pressing challenges facing our state's youth: the impact of childhood trauma. Though we have made progress in understanding how to help children who have experienced traumatic events, further study will equip us with actionable research and data we can apply to help prevent and combat the negative effects of trauma. To obtain this information, we began recruiting for the CTRN study in 2020. Since then, the number of study participants has grown to more than 3,500 individuals between the ages of 8 and 20 who have experienced trauma, highlighting its widespread incidence and demonstrating the dire need for intervention and improvement.

Our network is a collaboration of twelve leading health-related institutions across Texas, united in a single, critical mission: improve mental health services for youth who have experienced trauma and increase the potential for more positive outcomes. Our mission is rooted in compassion, science, and hope. Every child deserves a future free from the shadows of trauma - and that knowledge is one of our most powerful tools in making that future possible.

From the risk factors that make children vulnerable to the protective factors that help them heal, the insights we gain will be used to improve treatment, inform public policy, and, most importantly, provide hope for children and families across the state.

Thank you for visiting. We invite you to explore, learn, and return often as we continue to grow and share the latest in our journey to improve the health and well-being of Texas’s youth.

Sincerely,

Charles B. Nemeroff, MD, PhD Co-Director,
Texas Childhood Trauma Research Network

Karen Dineen Wagner, MD, PhD Co-Director,
Texas Childhood Trauma Research Network

D. Jeffrey Newport, MD, MS, MDiv Associate Director,
Texas Childhood Trauma Research Network