April 2022

This trauma-informed program addresses mental health and increases self-defense capacity among women experiencing homelessness (WEH) in Alachua County, Florida. Homelessness and mental health are significant public health issues within the United States. These issues are further complicated by adverse childhood experiences, which have been linked to poorer health outcomes and risk for homelessness in adulthood. The intersection of homelessness and mental health among women is important to...

In my grant proposal, a multi-level trauma based intervention program will be proposed to address the prevention and treatment of mental health problems among college students attending the University of Florida, in Alachua County who experienced at least one ACE. (SAMHSA, 2021) Trauma-Informed Principles Your Grant Will Utilize Four out of the six Trauma-Informed Principles will be built into the program to provide prevention and treatment services. (Feuer-Edwards, et al., 2016) This first...

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with opioid use disorder and lead to intergenerational trauma and transmission of opioid use issues, which are disproportionately higher in the Tampa Bay area. This indicates a greater need for additional trauma-informed interventions and access to resources that address this prevalent issue. To address this opioid disparity in Tampa Bay, this program aims to support Tampa Bay adult residents and families with a history of experiencing at...

The goal of this grant proposal is to gain funding for programming that treats depression in young adults (18-25) who have experienced four or more ACEs. Project activities will include bi-weekly group counseling sessions, weekly mindfulness classes, and a monthly organized outdoor activity led by a member of the population. This program will include health professionals, one licensed clinical therapist, and members of the target population as group leaders. The outcomes of this program will...

For my semester-long grant proposal, I created an intervention to help overweight/obese individuals who have gone through adverse childhood experiences growing up. This intervention would take place in Alachua County, Florida. Participants need at least a score of three on an ACE questionnaire. Becoming overweight/ obese in adulthood is one of the many health consequences that can occur due to ACEs. My proposed intervention would work to help these adults work through their past traumas...

Summary Adverse childhood experiences (ACE’s) have been identified as being avoidable, costly, and the largest threat to population health at the global level (Bellis et al., 2019). Identifying, mitigating, and even preventing ACE’s from happening, is a current task at hand for public health officials. Trauma-informed approaches have been identified as useful strategies in dealing with ACE’s. This grant proposal focuses on mitigating and preventing ACE’s by tackling them at the level of...

Summary This grant will help fund a public health intervention that utilizes cognitive behavioral therapy to address Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) as it relates to emotional abuse. The intervention will include weekly family and individual therapy sessions for a three month period that address domestic emotional abuse and teach families appropriate coping skills. The target population is Gainesville families with children ages 5-17 years who have experienced emotional abuse and...

As a semester-long course project for my Trauma-Informed Approaches course, I developed a grant proposal for the prevention of childhood overweight and obesity with a trauma-informed approach. This program aims to prevent childhood overweight and obesity in Pinellas County, where nearly 20% of children are overweight or obese. Childhood obesity without intervention increases the likelihood of developing asthma, diabetes, and more severe obesity in adulthood. Children are dependent on adults...

Summary A trauma-informed project in Palm Beach County, Florida, is proposed as a solution to the public health issue of healthy eating, specifically the consumption of the proper amounts of fruits and vegetables and adverse childhood experiences, which can lead to unhealthy food choices and morbidity issues. This nutritional program will take a proactive approach to assist the target group who have experienced childhood trauma and are at risk of engaging in behaviors that lead to poor food...

Children engaged with the child welfare system, particularly those within the foster care system, are at particularly high risk of engaging in high risk sexual behavior. Youth in foster care have often been exposed to domestic violence, sexual violence, have been exposed to sexual incidents at a younger age, and have significant experiences of sexual abuse (Dowdell, et al; 2009). Engagement in high risk sexual behavior is a particularly significant area of risk for youth in foster care. Even...

The dose-response relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and mental illness is a public health concern. Findings from literature have illustrated the importance of early interventions in order to alleviate the effects of ACEs and improve children’s development (Felitti et al., 1998). The proposed grant seeks to explore ACEs in children aged 12-17 years old in Leon County, Florida. The provision of mental and physical resources at various levels of the social ecological...

Summary: Mental health diagnoses in childhood are increasingly common, with about 10% of youth between 5-16 years holding at least one diagnosis (Lowthian et al., 2021). The prevalence and the risk for mental illness increase with each cumulative adverse childhood exposure (Felliti et al., 1998). In Michigan, ACEs are widely prevalent, with nearly 20% of respondents experiencing 4 or more ACEs (Murad & Barth, 2016). Moreover, certain exposures pose greater risk for childhood mental...