Child physical abuse, child sexual abuse, and other forms of traumatic stress in childhood are unfortunately quite prevalent. Although most children exhibit striking resiliency in the face of such harrowing experiences, the ubiquity of childhood trauma translates into a significant number of children in need of clinical services to address resultant unremitting distress. Encouragingly, a number of effective interventions for child traumatic stress have been developed in the past several years, and these services are increasingly available in urban areas. Unfortunately, residents of rural and frontier regions may remain underserved despite the existence of effective treatments. This article briefly reviews the prevalence and sequelae of childhood trauma and depicts the numerous barriers to effective treatment faced by rural populations. The authors then briefly review promising evidence-based interventions for child traumatic stress and conclude by enumerating mechanisms for increasing rural populations’ access to these services.
