The Common Assignment is a final paper. The goal of this assignment is to demonstrate
your ability to apply the course content, including the core concepts and either the
TST or TF-CBT treatment framework, discuss one of your cases using the following
outline. If you do not currently have a case, your instructor will provide a case for
you
Tasks:
1. Identify one of your own child or adolescent cases. Summarize the presenting problem
and relevant history.
2. Provide a trauma-informed assessment of your client. The trauma assessment should
include a brief description of the trauma HISTORY and a brief summary of emotional
and/or behavioral SYMPTOMS that have developed as a result of the trauma. Be sure to
highlight developmental and cultural factors that are salient to the assessment.
Developmental concerns should speak to the child/adolescent’s achievement of
milestones –individual, family, school, peers. Is the attachment relationship affected?
Discuss how culture interacts with the experience of or impact of trauma. (Competency 1
– Skill)
3. Using the core concepts as a guide for prioritizing treatment issues, identify the most
immediate treatment issues for your client. Use ONE, NO MORE THAN two core
concepts.
4. Discuss the efforts you have made to address ambivalence/resistance effectively with
your client and family. Identify the resistance/ambivalence clearly – it may be with the
child or it may be with the caregiver, – e.g. reluctant to attend sessions, avoids efforts at
engagement which is affecting the relationship with the child – or both. (Competency 6 –
Skill)
5. Summarize the treatment to date. Indicate where, if at all, you have been able to use
elements of the trauma treatment framework you have identified. (Competency 8 –
Knowledge)
6. Using the trauma treatment framework you have chosen as a guide, identify next steps in your work with the client/client system.
