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Lurie Children’s Home Specialties & Conditions Center for Childhood Resilience

Center for Childhood Resilience

The Center for Childhood Resilience (CCR) is a nationally-recognized public health program promoting access to high-quality mental health services for children and adolescents across Illinois and nationwide. Founded in 2004, CCR is a program of the Pritzker Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Lurie Children’s. 

CCR provides training, education, and outreach to school professionals, community agencies, city leaders, and parents to increase young people's access to mental health services. Our team of specialists share insights and best practices, advocate and lead policy reform, and conduct research to advance innovative, sustainable, and evidence-based strategies that foster mental health reform and build trauma-informed communities. Critical to this work is a commitment to ensuring the fidelity and sustainability of the models of care that are implemented.

See below for an overview of CCR accomplishments for 2022.


Helping Children Thrive In School, At Home And In The Community

Through CCR’s school-community partnerships:

6,500
Adults trained in early childhood settings, K-12 schools, after-school programs, community organizations and other professions 
228
Schools in 31 districts during the 2021-2022 school year

Behavioral Health Teams (BHTs) in Chicago Public Schools

CCR is working with Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to expand BHTs to all 515 schools by 2024. BHTs implement protocols to identify students in need of mental health support, link them to school and community-based services and monitor their progress. 

Learn More

Resilience Education to Advance Community Healing (REACH) Statewide Initiative

REACH is a partnership with the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) using Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds (ESSER II) from the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education at the US Department of Education. It helps Illinois’ schools and school districts create healthy learning environments that protect, support and heal. Our new REACH Learning and Resource Hub (RLRH) provides free, on-demand learning on trauma-focused topics.

399
Schools in 209 districts have created REACH teams
1,271
Educators have accessed the RLRH to date

National Safe Supportive Schools (NCS3) Learning Collaborative

NCS3 reached leaders from 15 school districts in 14 states to advance student mental health, trauma-informed care and equity initiatives.

300
School mental health clinicians trained in evidence-based interventions
5,500
Students received behavioral health services from these clinicians
900
Educators received professional development in school mental health, trauma and more

Early Childhood Initiatives

We are thrilled to participate in the newly created Schreiber Family Center for Early Childhood Health and Wellness. A part of Lurie Children’s Patrick M. Magoon Institute for Healthy Communities, the Schreiber Family Center brings together the hospital’s experts with community partners to help children ages birth to five thrive where they live, learn and play. We will build on our Ready to Learn through Relationships (RLR) intervention to enhance early care and education (ECE) training, expand the early childhood workforce and engage families in social-emotional learning and trauma-informed practices. 

We are also the lead partner on a five-year national project to develop, pilot and validate trauma-informed organizational self-assessment for ECE environments, filling an important gap in this area. This project is a partnership with the Office of Head Start (OHS) National Center on Health, Behavioral Health, and Safety, and the Georgetown University Center for Child & Human Development. 

Supporting Newcomers

In partnership with Loyola University Chicago and eight CPS schools, we are addressing the critical need for effective mental health supports for immigrant and refugee children and youth.

60
Newcomer families enrolled in our NIH-funded research study on Supporting Transition Resilience of Newcomer Groups (STRONG), a group mental health intervention
Learn More
160
CPS staff trained on STRONG and classroom strategies to support newcomer youth wellness

Advocating for Change

596+
Hours spent participating in 29 advocacy groups across Illinois

Our Team

Housed within one of the nation's leading pediatric hospitals, we are a team of experienced experts who are driven by a passion to improve mental health outcomes for every child.

Sybil Baker, LCSW

Associate Director, School Mental Health: Interventions  

Caryn Curry, LCSW

Director, Organizational Excellence

Carmen Holley, LCSW

Director, Early Childhood and Community Engagement

Nell McKitrick, MBA

Director of Operations

Tali Raviv, PhD

Director, School Mental Health

Mashana L. Smith, PhD

Associate Director, School Mental Health: Healing Centered Engagement

Key Activities

Learn More

For more information about the program, resources for caregivers and providers, and ways to get involved: 

Visit the CCR Website

REACH Newsletter

Subscribe to the quarterly REACH newsletter for the latest news on our statewide initiative to better support the wellness, mental health and resilience of the youth in schools and communities.

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