The Caregiver Online Psychoeducation (COPE) Project: A Collaborative Response to the Increased Demand for Child Trauma Services

  • Jenney is a second year PhD student in the Clinical Psychology program at the University of Calgary. Jenney seeks to bridge the gap between research and clinical practice, specifically regarding child adversity and the implications for adult mental health. By strengthening our understanding of the pathways that connect child maltreatment and adult wellbeing, we can inform evidence-based prevention and intervention efforts to mitigate risk for adverse health outcomes among individuals who have a history of child maltreatment.

The Child Abuse Service at the Alberta Children’s Hospital represents the largest team of providers of in-person services to children and adolescents who have endured acute and/or severe maltreatment in Southern Alberta. Currently, the average waitlist at the Child Abuse Service is 4-8 months to receive treatment and has been further negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that prolonged experience of trauma symptoms among children increases the risk of long-term physical health and mental health difficulties, it is imperative to create and deliver an innovative solution to allow children access to trauma treatment in a timely manner.

With these difficulties in mind, the current project aims to develop a proactive response using a community-based participatory research framework. Accordingly, we are developing the Caregiver Online PsychoEducation (COPE) project to provide free, online psychoeducation resources for caregivers while their child is on the waitlist. The COPE modules address a critical need for therapeutic resources for children who have experienced maltreatment. To our knowledge, it is the first online psychoeducational resource developed for caregivers of children who have experienced trauma-related symptoms and is scalable both within the community and across Canada.

This project is co-funded in partnership with Mitacs.