With depression a leading cause of disability around the world, it is vital to implement trauma-informed initiatives that help educate individuals on how to build resiliency, understand mental health in themselves and others, and be better equipped for the future. With those aged 18-24-years the most affected by depression, starting in high school can give students the step they need in the right direction. The program initiative develops a consecutive program for high school students that focuses on education, health care access, and increasing mental health services in schools. Students will participate in voluntary ACE questionnaires, health-based field days, and regular appointments with school counselors, each year. For those who require additional assistance, the school program focuses on linking students and their parents with necessary resources while also building upon their education each year. Students will have the ability to interact with others in a way that hopefully will reduce mental health stigma and build understanding and social support among peers.
Public Health Framework
A public health framework will be employed through the use of social ecological models and public health stages of prevention for individuals who are at risk of experiencing depression or who have experienced adverse childhood experiences. The program will focus on using the individual, relationship, community, and policy concepts within the CDC’s Social Ecological Model which will emphasize a system’s level approach (CDC, 2020). Further, the project will focus on both a primary and secondary approach to public health prevention. Within the primary approach, implementing a social emotional learning approach within the educational framework will target those students with the needed education in order to understand and achieve proper coping mechanisms as well as providing them with necessary social support. This will build resilience within the high school students that will hopefully help spread education to their parents, siblings, friends, and others in Alachua County to eventually encompass all individuals to further education around depression and ACEs. The other part of the intervention will focus on the secondary prevention approach which will target those at risk of high ACE scores and depression (Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia, 2016). This will be done by completing the adverse childhood experiences screenings at the introduction of the education program within the high schools and connecting these high school students with counselors, psychologists and other health professionals to continue care and assist with necessary treatment.
Level(s) of Social Ecological Model:
The Social Ecological Model utilized in the project will be the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Social Ecological Model or CDC SEM for short. This model focuses on four levels including the individual, relationship, community and society levels. This project will address all levels of the CDC social ecological model (CDC, 2020). At the individual level, the project hopes to increase education and resilience among the student body. This increased education will hopefully help students better manage and cope with present and future stressors that may contribute to ACE scores. At the relationship level, these students will be able to build relationships with their peers as well as with administrators, counselors, and others involved in the program at their school. Hopefully, they will be able to pass along the information that they have learned to their families and other community members. The relationship level will focus on building strong relationships mostly around their peers as students learn the effects of depression and trauma, and learn to identify signs of trauma or depression in their peers. The community level generally explores the setting in which relationships occur. In the implemented program, the community level will be targeted through the implemented educational framework at each Alachua county high school. The community level will serve as the primary point of implementation that will both target and affect the individual, relationship, and societal levels of the model. The society level may take longer to implement, but hopefully after program initiation, the community’s culture and norms begin to become more accepting and knowledgeable towards trauma and mental health.
Trauma-Informed Principles Your Grant Will Utilize
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) focuses on six key principles of trauma-informed care for organizations. These six principles are (1) safety, (2) trustworthiness and transparency, (3) peer support and mutual self-help, (4) collaboration and mutuality, (5) empowerment, voice and choice, and (6) cultural, historical, and gender issues (SAMHSA, 2014). While some of these principles may be easier to address through the educational program, others will take time through increased resilience building and improved relationships between peers, teachers, counselors, and other community members. Throughout the program, safety will be addressed through competent, skilled, and educated individuals leading the program. These individuals like hopefully many that work in these high schools will be able to foster an environment that focuses on students feeling physically and psychologically safe in their environment. Trustworthiness and transparency will be addressed through this public program. Since the program will be implemented in all Alachua county high schools, the program and its objectives, plans, and directives will be available on the school board’s website with information for parents as well as who to contact. Students will be encouraged to share what they’ve learned with their families and community. This will aid in building trust among those involved in administering the program as well as those receiving the services. Peer support and mutual self-help will be addressed through this educational program as students will hopefully learn more about trauma, depression, and how to manage it. Additionally students with higher ACE scores will be referred to psychologists for further evaluation. Collaboration and mutuality will be achieved similarly through the building of relationships between peers, administrators, counselors, and other project coordinators. The fifth principle will be addressed through the program as well, as students will be encouraged to provide feedback as the program will aid in building resilience. Cultural, historical, and gender issues especially historical trauma will be addressed through counseling sessions with those with higher scores. Additionally, the educational program will focus on combating stigma through increased awareness and education on issues that may be viewed stigmatically in society such as mental health and trauma.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2019, November 5). Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/aces/index.html
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2020, January 28). The Social-Ecological Model: A Framework for Prevention, Violence Prevention, Injury Center CDC. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/violencepr...ecologicalmodel.html
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). (2019, February). Major Depression. Retrieved from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/healt...jor-depression.shtml
Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia, Thomas Scattergood Behavioral Health Foundation,
and United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey (2016). Trauma
Informed Philanthropy: A Funder’s Resource Guide for Supporting Trauma-Informed
Practice in the Delaware Valley
SAMHSA’s Trauma and Justice Strategic Initiative. (2014). SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. file:///Users/djtriplett/Downloads/SAMHSA-1.pdf
WellFlorida. (2018). Alachua County Data. Retrieved from https://wellflorida.org/data-r...alachua-county-data/
World Health Organization (WHO). (2020, January 30). Depression. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-room/...ts/detail/depression
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