Introduction

What is Project ENACT?

Project ENACT (Educating NPs to Address Childhood Trauma) is a federally funded initiative that equips Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) students to deliver trauma-informed care (TIC) with skill, confidence, and cultural awareness. Through expert-led instruction, simulated patient encounters, reflective assignments, and clinical placements, the program integrates trauma-informed principles across three semesters of training. The project also provides financial support, with eligible students receiving $10,000 stipends during their clinical year.

Trauma-Informed Care

Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) is an approach that recognizes the lasting impact of trauma and emphasizes safety, trust, empowerment, and collaboration in every patient interaction. Building on SAMHSA’s national framework, TIC involves understanding trauma’s prevalence, recognizing its effects, integrating awareness into all practices and policies, and actively avoiding re-traumatization. This approach shifts care to focus not just on treatment, but on creating environments that support healing for all.

Why is TIC Essential for PMNHPs?

PMHNPs frequently care for individuals with trauma histories, disclosed or undisclosed. A trauma-informed lens helps them identify trauma responses, adapt interventions to reduce distress, build trust, and respond to challenging behaviors with compassion. Integrating TIC into training ensures PMHNPs deliver care that is clinically effective, culturally responsive, and emotionally safe—while also supporting their own resilience against secondary traumatic stress.

Using this Toolkit

The Project ENACT Toolkit provides practical strategies, sample assignments, curricular guidance, and implementation tools for embedding trauma-informed care into PMHNP education. Designed to be flexible, it can serve as a full curriculum model or as a resource for enhancing individual courses, clinical supervision, or faculty development. With user-friendly organization, examples, and mapping tools, the toolkit supports faculty, clinical preceptors, and program leads in making trauma-informed care an integral part of PMHNP training.