Welcome!

The Missouri Academy of Child Trauma Studies (MoACTS) is the training arm of Children’s Advocacy Services of Greater St. Louis (CASGSL) at UMSL.

Founded in 2010, the mission of MoACTS is to disseminate trauma-informed, evidence-based interventions and practices throughout Missouri and nationally. 

Illustration of three business-looking people having a conversation
Learn About Our Training Team

Vision

While we work hard to end childhood trauma, we want to create communities in which all children who experience trauma are responded to by competent, caring professionals who knowledgably incorporate trauma-informed practices within the context of anti-racist and affirming frameworks.

MoACTS helps make this vision a reality through interactive and innovative professional development for caring professionals from a variety of backgrounds. We develop collaborative and lasting relationships with community partners to create meaningful changes in the access to and delivery of trauma informed services to our consumers.  We hope you will join us in this important work.

The Missouri Academy for Child Trauma Studies and our broader organization, Children’s Advocacy Services of Greater St. Louis (CASGSL), remains appalled and deeply alarmed by the ways racism and discrimination of Black, Indigenous, People of Color, LGBTQ+, and others with marginalized identities precipitates trauma and inequity.

Every day we more fully recognize our responsibility to identify, understand and stand against the systemic racism and other forms of discrimination that erodes opportunities, jeopardizes our children’s’ futures and impedes the change required to provide equitable, just, and dignified lives for every member of our community.

As providers and educators of trauma-informed care, we witness the profound impact of structural and institutional racism as well as historical trauma on the safety, health and well-being of the children, adolescents, and families we serve every day. As members of the Greater St. Louis community, we stand ready to lend our collective voice toward the process of change.

We contend that one cannot be trauma-informed without also being anti-racist, affirming of all identities, and seeking to dismantle systemic oppression in all its forms.

As leaders in the child welfare field, we view ourselves as having a moral and ethical responsibility to our trainees, the children and families they serve, and our colleagues to promote equity while combatting implicit bias, prejudice, discrimination, and oppression within the systems in which we work. We acknowledge the people in our community who have been fighting for change for decades and act to help them effect their desired changes and move toward solutions. With this understanding, we aim to formulate steps and strategies that will promote meaningful, actionable change across the multiple stakeholders we impact.

Illustration of a plant

Recognizing that we do not have all the answers, MoACTS shares our commitment to these action steps

Illustration of person standing
  • Ensuring that training content and processes are infused with best practices regarding addressing systemic racism and promoting a culture of equity and authenticity within trauma-informed services. 
  • Building capacity within our communities to train and support facilitators to implement interventions aimed at addressing issues related to social injustices and promoting positive social change at individual and communal levels.
  • Continual professional and personal learning for our team to ensure we are constantly growing, improving, and strengthening our skill set for engaging in challenging conversations. 
  • Creating a mechanism to recruit workforce members into our trainings who are representative of the children and families we serve. 
  • Ensuring our trainings and consultations are fully accessible for all learners. 
  • Welcoming participants to bring their authentic selves/experiences to our training and to highlight issues regarding anti-racism and oppression. 
  • Celebrating the ways that cultural differences and identity promote healing following the experience of trauma. 
Current Trainings and Customizable Training Options

History

Since 2010, MoACTS faculty have utilized best practices from implementation science to deliver high-quality, trauma-focused training to providers across Missouri and the United States.

Through partnerships with Missouri Kids First, St. Louis City and County Children’s Service Funds, The Missouri Children’s Trauma Network, and other community partners, we are often able to provide funded training opportunities that expand access to care for children and families. Our team assists our community partners in considering readiness for organizational change, needs assessments, and customizes training packages to best meet the goals within specific communities. To date, our nationally recognized, certified trainers have completed over 25 year-long learning collaboratives to increase community access to evidence-based, trauma-focused therapy models for children such as Trauma-Focused, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Integrative Treatment of Complex Trauma. 

Our tailored approach allows us to engage consumers from a variety of service sectors, including child protection, medical, education, court, delinquency, and child-welfare workers. Through these collaborations, our MoACTS team has used their expertise to develop specific training programs to meet the needs of consumers. These include our Trauma-Informed Programing in Schools (TIPS) program for K-12 educators, the Tiny Trauma-Informed Programming in Schools (TIPS) program for daycare and preschool workers, the Trauma-Informed Supervision Learning Collaborative, and Equity as a Hallmark of Trauma-Informed Care. 

Currently, our team trains over 1,000 trauma-professionals annually – and they in turn utilize these resources to improve the lives of at least 3,000 children (assuming each professional works with at least three children a year who have been impacted by trauma). Despite this impact, the need for additional, qualified professionals is great. We are here to help.