Childhood trauma impacts brain development. Here’s how we’re helping.

Childhood trauma is associated with physical, mental, and emotional symptoms that can persist into adulthood. But with consistent, high-quality interventions, trauma’s impacts can be mitigated so young people can experience better health and well-being throughout their lives.

Most children in foster care have experienced some type of childhood trauma. Indeed, family separation (whether temporary or permanent) is itself a trauma from which youth need help to heal.

Ampersand Families is on the cutting edge of this work by providing NMT™ assessments to young people who have experienced foster care. NMT™, which stands for the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics, is a developmentally sensitive, neurobiology-informed approach to clinical problem solving. Developed by Dr. Bruce Perry with the Neurosequential Network™, it provides a comprehensive assessment model that helps identify the impact childhood trauma may have had on a child’s brain development and make concrete suggestions for future interventions. 

Suggested interventions are unique to the child’s needs, interests, and cultural identities and may include things like swimming, drumming, yoga, bouncing on a trampoline, rocking, spending time with animals, making art, creating connections in the community, sensory activities, occupational therapy, and more.

NMT™ assessments can be a great tool to help understand how early childhood trauma may have impacted a young person’s brain development, and how that is showing up for them today. It can also be a great tool to identify how to support a young person therapeutically in a way that meets them where they are at and is especially helpful in identifying strategies for day-to-day regulation needs.  

Thanks to a partnership with the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families, Ampersand Families is able to provide NMT™ assessments to any youth, ages 6-23, who has been impacted by the adoption and foster care systems, at no cost to them or their families. In fact, by getting an NMT™ assessment completed, the assessed youth also receives a stipend for $800 to help implement some of the suggestions from this assessment. The youth does not need to be otherwise affiliated with our agency.

Here’s a testimonial from a parent whose child was experiencing frequent dysregulation and recently completed an assessment: “I cannot speak enough about how much benefit has come from our son’s NMT™ assessment to assist with his high needs. I hope that other families can experience the same education and relief that has been given to our family.”

If you or someone you know might be interested in learning more about no-cost NMT™ assessments through Ampersand Families, please reach out to Patricial Leach at Patricia@ampersandfamilies.org. She can help you determine if this approach is right for the youth(s) in your life.