The Houston Children’s Health Project was launched to help address the mental health needs of children adversely impacted by Hurricane Harvey. Based at Texas Children’s Hospital Trauma and Grief (TAG) Center, the program also supports those who have experienced prior traumas and losses that research indicates are likely to predispose them to long-term psychological, behavioral and physical health consequences.

This includes the implementation of evidence-based interventions within the TAG Center as well as dissemination of these treatments throughout the greater Houston community via trainings with school-based clinicians and community clinicians. Following Hurricane Harvey, the program’s staff immediately began training community mental health professionals and teachers from various Houston school districts to better recognize children who may be at risk for posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and suicide.

The primary mission of the TAG Center is to raise the standard of care and increase access to best-practice care among traumatized and bereaved children, adolescents, and their families. Its three primary aims include:

1. Provide evidence-based assessment and interventions for youth who have experienced traumas and/or losses
2. Conduct research on adaptive and maladaptive responses to trauma and loss as well as treatment effectiveness
3. Provide training and professional education in trauma and grief informed assessment and interventions using best practice teaching methods

The TAG Clinic is a SAMHSA-funded Category II Treatment and Services Adaptation Center of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). The TAG Clinic provides evidence-based risk screening, assessment, and interventions for youth aged 7 to 17 who have experienced traumas and/or losses, including the death of loved ones. The team uses state-of-the-art, empirically validated screening tools to ensure that youth seen in our clinic receive the most appropriate and effective interventions.

The TAG Lab focuses on understanding the causes and consequences of adaptive and maladaptive responses to both trauma and loss in youth, as well as treatment effectiveness.

The TAG Training Program provides training in trauma- and bereavement-informed assessment and treatment to psychology, psychiatry, and social work trainees, as well as community clinicians using in-person trainings and live supervision models. The team also provide trainings to community clinics, school-based mental health clinics, residential treatment facilities, and academic medical centers on such topics as bereavement and grief in children and families, and the implementation of Trauma and Grief Component Therapy.