TREM Study Funded by NIMH (July 2004)

Community Connections is pleased to announce that the National Institute of Mental Health has funded a four-year study of the Trauma Recovery and Empowerment Model (TREM) groups for women. Carried out in collaboration with a research team from the New Hampshire-Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center (PRC), the study will enroll 300 women trauma survivors with PTSD and severe mental health problems. The study design includes two conditions. 150 women will receive a full range of mental health and other community support services while 150 will participate in TREM groups in addition to the usual services. As a "randomized controlled trial" of TREM, women who agree to participate in the study will be assigned by chance to one of the two conditions. The North Baltimore Center, a full-service mental health agency in Baltimore, Maryland will join Community Connections as clinical sites for the project.

This study is an important next step that builds on the positive findings regarding TREM in the recently completed District of Columbia Trauma Collaboration Study. The more rigorous research design will enable us to examine with greater precision TREM's potential benefits in trauma recovery, focusing on trauma-related symptoms, other mental health concerns, substance abuse problems, and revictimization. Gregory J. McHugo, Ph.D., of the PRC is the Principal Investigator for the new study. From Community Connections, Roger D. Fallot, Ph.D. and Maxine Harris, Ph.D. are Co-Principal Investigators.