The field of Disaster Mental Health has been hampered by challenges in evaluating it's progress, given the chaos and lack of funding that make systematic research difficult. The systematic program evaluation of SAMHSA's post-disaster Crisis Counseling and Training Program (CCP), spearheaded by Fran Norris of the National Center for PTSD, has provided a much-needed window into a more quantified and clear view of how post-disaster programs function, and which interventions are most effective. It has also supported the development of innovative approaches to post-disaster care, like the Specialized Crisis Counseling Program and the Skills for Psychological Recovery Model, an evidence-informed approach to supporting recovery, developed by the National Center for PTSD and National Child Traumatic Stress Network.

Established by Congress in 2000, and funded by the Center for Mental Health Services at SAMHSA, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) is a unique collaboration of academic and community-based service centers whose mission is to raise the standard of care and increase access to services for traumatized children and their families across the United States.
Since the launch of the NCTSN:
1. Hundreds of thousands of children have received effective, culturally sensitive, evidence-based assessment and treatment for child traumatic stress.
2. Nearly a million providers have been trained in best practices.
3. Family members and consumers have offered valuable input to ensure
that treatment addresses the real needs of families and is responsive to
their concerns.
4. Data from more than 14,000 children treated by the NCTSN have provided
an unprecedented portrait of child trauma in America; this information is
used to improve care and shape national child policies.
5. Innovative and engaging new learning models, such as the NCTSN Learning
Collaborative, ensure that changes in practice take hold and are sustained
in service agencies across the country.
6. The NCTSN Core Curriculum on Childhood Trauma has identified the most
important principles of trauma treatment across theoretical models
and disciplines. It has become a model in the field for innovative trauma education.

I beleive that the integration of peer support as a professional service has had a profound impact on the medical community. It has been the single most effective vehicle that has allowed the voice of the consumer of services to be heard at the planning level. Peer support has catapulted the recovery movement into mainstream psychiatry by challenging the system to place the voice of the consumer ahead of the desires of the treatment team. Peer support will ensure that the consumer remains at the center of recovery oriented care by continuing to place the health and wellbeing of the consumer first.