If you’re considering training in CATT, you may be wondering where it came from. What led to the development of such a unique protocol? How did CATT originate? And more importantly, does it actually work?
CATT: A Brief Introduction
CATT, otherwise known as Children’s Accelerated Trauma Technique, is a specialist trauma therapy that has been developed specifically for children and young people.
Unlike adults, children aren’t able to rely on verbal communication alone, to fully express themselves. The CATT model is unique in addressing PTSD and complex trauma in children because it uses elements of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) combined with play and creative arts to unlock familiar and, therefore, much more effective ways of communicating for young people aged from 4 upwards.
CATT is used all over the world to support children and young people struggling with PTSD and complex trauma and has demonstrated success time and time again. The gap CATT fills is so stark that the vast majority of mental health professionals who have undergone CATT training begin to incorporate it into their sessions immediately, to better help their young clients heal and recover from their trauma.
When you undergo CATT training, you develop your skills as a mental health professional and learn an evidence-based trauma therapy that fully adheres to UK NICE and World Health Organization (WHO) guidance, and works fast to help young people heal from childhood trauma.
What Is The Research?
We can tell you it works, but what research exists to demonstrate it?
Children’s Accelerated Trauma Technique has undergone 25 years of extensive research and development. Originally established in 1997 when its Creator, Dr Carlotta Raby, was part of a social outreach programme designed to support children and adolescents excluded from mainstream systems. CATT was later developed into a training programme in 2002 and continues to help young people overcome PTSD and C-PTSD in the UK and overseas.
What Is The Evidence?
CATT works because it has been developed from the ground up, holding children and young people at its core.
With proven success in different countries and numerous areas of high conflict, CATT works even in cases of extreme incidents leading to trauma, and provides children and adolescents with a much-needed, highly flexible and adaptable intervention that enables them to process their traumatic memories in a safe and comfortable way.
There are currently over 300 mental health professionals using CATT worldwide, and the number is growing year on year.
Having been applied in a variety of countries for over two decades, an immense amount of learning has been accumulated, and the feedback from organisations on the frontline, practicing clinicians, and the young people and their families themselves across these diverse settings has headlined the continued development of our CATT training programmes.
The Data: CATT In Rwanda
In 2002, the founder of CATT was invited to travel to Rwanda by a local Rwandan non-government organisation (NGO) that worked with communities affected by genocide. They were looking for a model of trauma treatment that was suitable for the children and adolescents affected by the recent events, as well as the adults.
Delivering CATT training in this way was a catalyst for the formalisation of the 12-step holistic model that we see today.
The experience of using CATT to help young people with trauma in Rwanda demonstrated that:
- CATT worked well for cases of acute PTSD and reduced the intensity of the symptoms associated with the trauma
- CATT was extremely adaptable and flexible enough to treat young people from different cultures without any dip in effectiveness (Allard, Bates and Skaarbrevik 2016; Edwards 2011; Raby 2010; Raby and Edwards 2011; Rolington 2014)
The true success of using the CATT protocol in Rwanda led to the model being used in other areas of conflict, war or natural disaster. In 2008, a charitable organisation was established to enable the local organisations of communities experiencing extreme conflict and trauma to access training in CATT on a humanitarian basis; this charity is now called Action for Child Trauma International. You can read all about their work here.
The Data: CATT In Gaza
According to reports from international organisations, over 270,000 children in the Gaza Strip need psychological intervention. In 2019, ACT International partnered with, IMET 2000 and Firefly International to set up a child trauma clinic in Gaza.
An initial audit (Birch, 2021) showed that over the first 18 months of the clinic’s operation, 69 children were treated for PTSD using CATT. Pre and post-treatment data showed that all 69 children initially had clinically significant symptoms of PTSD (as indicated by the CRIES-8) pre-treatment, and following CATT treatment, all 69 children no longer had clinically significant symptoms of PTSD.
This shows that CATT significantly reduces the symptoms of acute traumatic stress, and some of these young people had lived with PTSD and complex trauma for over 4 years. Feedback from families and other adults involved in the children’s care showed progress in life skills and psychological adjustment as the children were taken through the 12-stage model.
Follow-up of a subset of children showed that at 6 months these treatment gains were maintained, despite these children continuing to live in Gaza’s harsh conditions, suggesting that CATT also improves a young person’s resilience to ongoing trauma.
CATT In Uganda
Over half of Uganda’s population is under 15 years old. The country has a long history of experiencing group conflicts. Many of the young people living in Uganda have witnessed extreme traumatic events, and there is a high rate of mental health difficulties among children and adolescents, as well as adults.
CATT is an important part of the development and training of child mental health professionals in Uganda. The model has strengthened concepts of children’s human rights into mainstream practice.
Before the introduction of CATT to Ugandan mental health services, there was only one psychiatrist specialising in child and adolescent mental health treatments.
Now, Uganda has 160 counsellors trained in using CATT.
CATT Really Works – And There’s Plenty Of Evidence To Prove It
Over the past 20 years, CATT has been used all over the world to vastly improve the lives of young people and their families with PTSD and complex trauma; the model has produced numerous positive treatment outcomes that show that not only does it work, but it works quickly.
If you’d like to know more about CATT and what it looks like in practice, read our blog here, or to see when the next available training course is available, click here.
References
https://actinternational.org.uk/cuffe-uganda-catt-assessment
