Online modules and multimedia feature effective practices and lessons learned from work in the field

Prevention Institute has curated a new toolkit that shares strategies for preventing suicide and trauma during catastrophic events like the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes, winter storms, or other disasters.

As we witnessed last week in Texas and other Southern states, major events like these can cause significant upheaval in the lives of individuals and entire populations, disrupt the social fabric of communities, and cut people off from much needed resources.

The toolkit, which was funded by the CDC and co-developed with the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), offers activities local government agencies and community coalitions can use both planning for and during periods of infrastructure disruption to assess their local contexts, populations most impacted by suicide, and promising strategies.

The toolkit supports communities to:

• Identify factors that can increase suicide risk during infrastructure disruptions such as social isolation and financial stress
• Place the impact of catastrophic events in historical and cultural context
• Assess existing strategies and partnerships to identify gaps in comprehensiveness, collaboration, equity, or evidence
• Use community determinants of health as a framework for involving multiple sectors in suicide prevention efforts
• Use multiple forms of evidence to inform the development of effective local strategies
• Apply a comprehensive, public health approach to suicide prevention

The toolkit includes a series of podcasts featuring leaders from Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC), an initiative that supports cross-sector, community networks using the science of ACEs (adverse childhood experiences) and trauma to build a just, healthy, and resilient world. PI partnered with the Health Federation of Philadelphia to produce the series.

• Podcast: Using Data to Effect Change
  This episode features a conversation with Yusuf Ali, Soojin Conover, and Suzeth Dunn from Boston’s Vital Village Network about using data to effect change.
   
• Podcast: The Role of a Backbone Organization
  In this episode, the hosts talk with Laura Norton-Cruz, former director of the Alaska Resilience Initiative, about the role of an effective backbone organization.
   
• Podcast: Effective Network Leadership
  This episode features a conversation with Joel Fein and Crystal Wyatt, members of the Philadelphia ACE Task Force’s Steering Committee, about effective network leadership.

In addition to the podcasts, the toolkit on preventing suicide and trauma during catastrophic events includes other multimedia resources, including webinar recordings, briefs, blogs, and other materials compiled to support a comprehensive approach.

The podcast series and the toolkit are supported by Cooperative Agreement No. 6 NU38OT000305-02-03 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Their 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.

Funding for the podcast series was also provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.