Lessons from the field: implementing a Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) pilot program in a child welfare system

The current paper evaluates a pilot program implementing Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) among a sample of child welfare staff working across eight organizations in order to (1) describe the first year of implementation and (2) examine staff and organizational change. Staff completed assessments of trauma-informed care attitudes and organizational functioning at the start of the project and at the end of the first year of implementation. Results indicate improvement across scales, with implications for the importance of fostering key roles (e.g., mentors) and planning for workforce changes (e.g., recurring trainings) in facilitating implementations that will function in child welfare settings.