Owsley County, Kentucky is in dire need for a public health intervention. Owsley county is currently experiencing high rates of school drop outs, high percentage of persons living in poverty, and various other poor health outcomes. If there is no intervention, Owsley county will continue to experience such trauma and possibly experience worsened conditions. My idea for intervention will include involvement from the public health sector, health care providers and the school system to decrease the prevalence of ACEs. Public health efforts will work to educate school teachers/staff and health care providers on the issues of ACEs and how to prevent them. The school system and health care providers will then pass on the education to subjects in order to promote awareness of ACEs and create a better community within Owsley County.
Trauma Informed Philanthropy will be built into my project through peer support and mutual self-help, empowerment voice and choice, and trustworthiness and transparency. My program will promote peer support and mutual self-help by incorporating the lived experiences of grantees and giving them the chance to tell their stories. My program will also promote empowerment voice and choice through emphasizing the importance of a strength-based assessment in their work. Additionally, grantees will be trained in trauma informed care and they will be ensured a protected environment to talk about traumatic experiences and ACE’s with those in need. Lastly, my program will encourage trustworthiness and transparency by encouraging group work amongst constituents so people can find the most effective ways to collect information from those they are serving. Also, trustworthiness and transparency will be incorporated by allowing grantees to share their data with others in an open, clear, and transparent way (“SAMHSA,” 2014).
My project will address all four levels of the social ecological model crafted from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“The Social-Ecological Model,” 2019). For my project, the individual level will be used in Owsley County to assesses factors like age, substance abuse, education, etc. The Relationship level will include preventative programs that are peer and family focused. Community level will be incorporated into my project by first assessing the community centers then searching for areas of improvement. The societal level will be used in my project to look at violence in Owsley county as whole (“The Social-Ecological Model,” 2019).
My project will utilize a public health approach to ensure wide classifications of change will be in order. The changes will help us bring a multidisciplinary approach forward as we organize various sectors to work with. As a grant maker, one can alter the funds to push for the policies they see fit, like innovation or trauma informed care. There will also be an opportunity to pair with federal state and local government to work for that wide change classification. I will also consider including a cross-sector public health approach for addressing ACES and trauma through primary prevention, secondary prevention, and tertiary prevention. Primary prevention would include overarching policies addressing all subjects, discuss issues of mental health concerns, child welfare, education, etc. Through primary prevention we will provide education about ACES at doctors’ visits and in the school system to decrease stigmas and raise awareness. Secondary preventions could include the same subjects but specifically address “at risk” populations where we will work on building adaptability and promoting early intervention. Tertiary preventions will work to address treatment through clinical evidence and incorporating social workers.
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