We are committed to helping abused children get the best care possible. That starts by
ensuring teams of professionals everywhere are up to date on the latest approaches to
delivering equitable and effective care of abused children. Our local, regional, and national
trainings educate community members, multidisciplinary professionals, and everyone in
between.
Some of our trainings include:
- Healing, Hope, and Justice: An Advanced Conversation - MACA hosts an annual
conference where we train multidisciplinary professionals from around the country
on the best practices and innovative responses to child sexual abuse and
exploitation. We’ve trained over 2,700 professionals - including police, prosecutors,
Department of Children and Families, victim advocates, medical professionals, and
mental health providers. - Recognizing and Responding to Child Abuse - If a child is expressing a fear of going
home, has sudden behavioral changes, and/or unexplained injuries, they may be
victims of abuse. Child abuse comes in many forms, including physical, sexual, and
emotional abuse, maltreatment, and neglect. MACA helps teachers, parents, youth
serving professionals, and concerned community members identify the various
forms of child abuse and what steps you can take to help a child in need. - Mental Health Training Initiatives - MACA assists in training clinicians statewide in
evidence-based modalities. The purpose of these mental health training initiatives is
to reduce the wait lists for children & adolescents seeking trauma-based mental
health services and to connect Children Advocacy Centers with their local agencies
and trained clinicians. MACA collaborates with leaders in mental health to stay up to
date on the needs in Massachusetts and to better understand how MACA can
leverage funding to improve the mental health services for child victims of abuse.
Most recently, MACA has collaborated with partners to provide the following leading-edge
mental health training initiatives:
- In 2020, MACA was awarded funding through the National Children’s Alliance to
train clinicians on how to provide Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
(TF-CBT) via Telehealth platforms. Telehealth utilizes advances in video-conferencing
technology to provide services to individuals, which has become increasingly
necessary. This six-month Learning Collaborative provided clinicians from the Child
Trauma Training Center (CTTC) at UMASS Medical School and Baystate Medical
Hospital tools for how to get started and best practices for providing TF-CBT therapy
via telehealth platforms. - In 2020, MACA began working with the Center on Child Abuse & Neglect at the
University of Oklahoma to bring a Problematic Sexual Behavior Cognitive-Behavioral
Therapy (PSB-CBT) Learning Collaborative to six Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs)
and their mental health partner agencies. Problematic Sexual Behavior
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (PSB-CBT) is an evidence-based intervention for
children (ages 7-12 years) with problematic sexual behaviors and their caregivers.
Research has shown that children with problematic sexual behavior who receive this
treatment have only a 2% chance of committing sex offenses in the future and are
no more likely to act out sexually than peers who never had problematic sexual
behaviors. This PSB-CBT Learning Collaborative also includes community forums
that educate and engage community partners on Problematic Sexual Behaviors,
PSB-CBT treatment, and how these partners can play a role in helping these
children.
From our statewide annual conference to local training sessions that address specific
challenges, we ensure that the professionals directly helping abused children are always up
to date on the approaches that work best.
Be sure to register for updates so you always know what’s available.