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SSET: Support for Students Exposed to Trauma: School Support for Childhood Trauma
 

By Jack Komer, 12/2021.

What is SSET?                                                                                     

SSET is an evidence-based intervention focused on managing the distress that results from exposure to trauma. It is designed to be implemented by teachers or school counselors with groups of 8-10 students. It was developed as an adaptation of the Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools program. SSET is designed for children in late elementary school through early high school (ages 10-16) who have experienced events such as witnessing or being a victim of family, school, or community violence, being in a natural or man-made disaster, being in an accident or fire, or being physically abused or injured, and who are experiencing moderate to severe levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms.

Components of SSET (NCTSN, 2017)

  • Psychoeducation

  • Relaxation training

  • Cognitive coping

  • Gradual exposure to trauma reminders

  • Trauma narrative

  • Problem Solving

Evidence of SSET Effectiveness

Pilot Study:

  • Jaycox LH, Langley AK, Stein BD, Wong M, Sharma P, Scott M, Schonlau M, Support for Students Exposed       to Trauma: A Pilot Study, School Mental Health, 1(2):49–60, 2009.

 

Other Studies Describing Effectiveness:

  • Jaycox LH, Kataoka SH, Stein BD, Wong M and Langley A, Responding to the needs 
       of the community: A stepped care approach to implementing trauma-focused 
       interventions in schools, Report on Emotional and Behavioral Disorders in Youth, 
      5(    4):85-88, 100-103, 2005

  • Jaycox LH, Langley AK and Dean KL, Support for Students Exposed to Trauma: The 
      SSET Program—Lesson Plans, Worksheets, and Materials, Santa Monica: RAND 
      Corporation, TR-675, 2009.

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SSET
Program Site
 

National Child Traumatic Stress Network Fact Sheet on SSET
 

 SSET Operations 
Manual

References

Jaycox, L.H., Kataoka, S.H., Stein, B.D., Wong, M., & Langley, A. Responding to the needs of the community: A stepped care approach to implementing trauma-focused interventions in schools, Report on Emotional and Behavioral Disorders in Youth, 5(4):85-88, 100-103, 2005 

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Jaycox, L.H., Langley, A.K., & Dean, K.L., Support for students exposed to trauma: The SSET program—lesson plans, worksheets, and materials, Santa Monica: RAND Corporation, TR-675, 2009. 

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Jaycox, L.H., Langley, A.K., Stein, B.D., Wong, M., Sharma, P., Scott, M., & Schonlau, M. Support for students exposed to trauma: A pilot study, School Mental Health, 1(2):49–60, 2009

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NCSTN. (2017). SSET: Support for Students Exposed to Trauma: School Support for Childhood Trauma [Fact sheet]. https://www.nctsn.org/sites/default/files/interventions/sset_fact_sheet.pdf

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