Adverse Childhood Experiences and Suicide Prevention Rapid Response Training & Technical Assistance Tools

COVID-19 and the national outcry for racial justice has illuminated a need for coordinated, culturally-specific and proactive ACEs and suicide prevention efforts. Through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Prevention Institute has partnered with the National League of Cities and Dr. Howard Pinderhughes, Director of the Sociology Doctoral Program at the University of California, San Francisco, to offer training and tools to local government and their partners in supporting their communities. We will compile, tailor, and rapidly disseminate suicide and ACEs prevention interventions with a focus on incorporating strategies that 1) have been adapted for a shelter-in-place/infrastructure disruption context, and 2) are responsive to populations most at risk and most impacted by the stress, anxiety, social isolation, loss and grief brought about and exacerbated by the pandemic.

At the same time, we are also working to update the CDC Suicide Prevention Technical Package for application during catastrophic events.

Topics and Activities 

• Suicide Prevention Modules
  ​These modules offer communities and states guidance to assess their local contexts, populations most impacted by suicide, and promising strategies during periods of infrastructure disruption due to catastrophic events such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Module 1: Making the case: Why do we need to consider suicide prevention during catastrophic events?
  • ​Module 2: What is a collaborative public health approach to suicide prevention?
  • Module 3: Bringing equity to suicide prevention: How can we support communities at elevated risk of suicide?
  • Module 4: Developing strategies: How can we prevent suicide during catastrophic events and beyond?
    ​
• Prioritizing equity and community wellbeing in the wake of catastrophic events
  ​Building resilient communities can help prevent suicide and trauma. This topic focuses on what equitable recovery looks like in the current context, and how states and communities can set the course for healthier and more equitable development in the wake of COVID-19.
   
  • Brief: Prioritizing equity and community wellbeing in the wake of catastrophic events: trauma-informed systems and long-term systems change
  • Webinar recording: Prioritizing equity and community wellbeing in the wake of catastrophic events
  • Presentation slides
  • Resources from “Prioritizing equity and community wellbeing in the wake of catastrophic events”

     

• Trauma-Informed Systems: Supporting your community and essential city workers during and after COVID-19
  ​This topic explores what it means for a city or other local government to be trauma-informed and what might this look like during the COVID-19 pandemic, including how agencies and organizations are integrating internal- and external-facing trauma-informed practices.
   
  • Video: Building Resilient Communities  (Duration: 2 minutes, 4 seconds; Features healing efforts in San Francisco, St. Louis, and Baltimore.)
  • Webinar recording: Trauma-Informed Systems: Supporting your community and essential city workers during and after COVID-19
  • Presentation slides
  • Resources from “Trauma-Informed Systems: Supporting your community and essential city workers during and after COVID-19” 
     
• Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities Podcast Series

  ​These podcasts feature interviews with network leaders from Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC), an initiative that supports cross-sector, community networks using the science of ACEs and trauma to build a just, healthy and resilient world.

  • Podcast on Using Data to Effect Change
  • Podcast on the Role of a Backbone Organization
  • Podcast on Effective Network Leadership
     
• Preventing Trauma and Youth Suicide During COVID-19 and Beyond: Promoting Mental Wellbeing Through In-School and Out-of-School Supports 
  This topic explores how agencies and organizations that support the wellbeing of youth both in school and out of school have adapted to the current context. Groups have found new opportunities to authentically engage with youth in ways that elevate strengths, connect to culture and are trauma-informed.
   
  • Brief: Preventing Trauma and Youth Suicide During COVID-19 & Beyond
  • Webinar recording: Preventing Trauma and Youth Suicide During COVID-19 and Beyond: Promoting Mental Wellbeing Through In-School and Out-of-School Supports
  • Presentation slides
  • Resources from “Preventing Trauma and Youth Suicide During COVID-19 and Beyond
    ​​

• Promoting Connectedness for Trauma and Suicide Prevention: Needs and Opportunities to Address Social Isolation in a Pandemic
  ​This topic explores how agencies and organizations are addressing social isolation and loneliness with a focus on priority populations who faced isolation even before the pandemic and groups at higher risk for suicide and trauma.

  • Video: Building Socially Connected Communities (Duration: 3 minutes, 7 seconds; Based on the report: Socially Connected Communities: Solutions for Social Isolation.)
  • Special Report from the CDC: Strengthening social connections to prevent suicide and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs): Actions and opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Blog: Innovations in Social Connection: How Local Leaders are Addressing Inequities and Advancing Technology Solutions During COVID-19
  • Webinar recording: Promoting Connectedness For Trauma and Suicide Prevention: Needs and Opportunities to Address Social Isolation in a Pandemic
  • Presentation slides
  • Resources from Promoting Connectedness for Trauma and Suicide Prevention​

This project is supported by Cooperative Agreement No. 6 NU38OT000305-02-03 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Department of Health and Human Services or the CDC.