Rural Vermont youth have shown an increase in mental health disorders and anxiety, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Normalizing the discussions surrounding mental health, resilience training, and mindfulness behaviors can start within the K-12 school systems by supporting educators and staff in these trauma-sensitive, responsive, and informed techniques. Implementation of a multi-tiered cross-functional approach to incorporating these topics into K-12 classrooms will be achieved through training and outreach with educators, staff, school administrators, parents and families, as well as after school community organizations within the Orange County, Vermont area, which targets the individual, relationship, and community levels of the CDCs social ecological model (CDC, 2022). This program utilizes a public health framework to reduce the prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms in youth in Orange County, Vermont who may have had adverse childhood experiences. The goals and activities of this program align with the primary and secondary levels of prevention in cross-sector public health approaches for addressing ACEs and trauma, due to the program’s goal to implement resilience skills training within the classroom as a universal precaution for all youth (Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia, 2016). This goal is considered a trauma-preventative goal in that it does not explicitly address traumatic stress but has a high potential for promoting resilience and thereby reducing potential exposure adverse experiences and trauma (Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia, 2016). An activity within the program is the use of restorative justice practices and community support for at-risk youth, which is a trauma-informed activity and falls under secondary prevention where acknowledgement of the effects trauma can have as secondary consequences on youth in school and community environments (Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia, 2016). Grant funding will go toward compensating trained and dedicated Clara Martin Center staff and Vermont Law School graduates to empower the community surrounding these school systems to support this social and behavioral public health intervention.
References
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (18 January 2022). The Social-Ecological Model: A Framework for Prevention. Retrieved 10 March 2023 from https://www.cdc.gov/violencepr...ecologicalmodel.html
Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia. Thomas Scattergood Behavioral Health Foundation and United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey (2016). Trauma Informed Philanthropy: A Founder’s Resource Guide for Supporting Trauma-Informed Practice in the Delaware Valley.
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