The Community Health Council of Lebanon County was recently awarded a competitive grant through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency to mobilize community members for violence prevention and connect Lebanon County residents with no-cost trauma therapy. Referred to as the Connected Together Lebanon County Initiative, the grant will bring nearly $300,000 over two years into the county to address multiple forms of violence, including sexual assault, child abuse, domestic violence, bullying, and gang violence, among others.
The goals of the Connected Together Lebanon County Initiative are to mitigate the harmful impacts of early trauma and adversity, build the capacity of service providers in Lebanon County to identify and intervene in traumatic responses to adverse experiences in both children and adults, and to implement the Communities That Care Framework to build a community-based violence prevention strategy in four targeted communities in Lebanon County.
The Connected Together effort will build the skills of community leaders in Lebanon City, Annville Township, Myerstown Borough, and Palmyra Borough, which collectively represent the four communities with the highest proportion of families facing poverty or living on a survival budget according to the United Way of Pennsylvania’s 2019 ALICE Report.
Violence and childhood trauma are significant problems in Lebanon County. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that 64% of adults experienced at least one form of childhood trauma. Lebanon County has also seen increases in the reported incidents of suspected child abuse and neglect through the Childline and Abuse Registry. Since 2009, cases have increased 68% (KIDS COUNT Data Center, Annie E Casey Foundation).
Both youth and adults in the county have reported increased mental health concerns over the last three years as well. WellSpan’s 2018 Community Health Needs Assessment found that 55% of adults reported having depressive symptoms on one or more days in the past two weeks, an increase of 3% from 2015 data. Another survey reported that 40% of youth in Lebanon County reported feeling depressed or sad on most days within that last 12 months (2017 Pennsylvania Youth Survey). With this data, the Community Health Council was able to make a case for a targeted violence prevention and trauma response strategy.
The Community Health Council partnered with several key program partners to plan the Connected Together Initiative. Among these partners are the Sexual Assault Resource & Counseling Center (SARCC), Empower the Mind, LLC, Domestic Violence Intervention of Lebanon County (DVI), United Way of Lebanon County, and the Better Together Mental Health Action Team.
The Connected Together Lebanon County Initiative uses a three-pronged approach for trauma prevention and response in our community. In the short term, it will provide county-wide access to mobile trauma assessment and therapy services for both children and adults referred by stakeholder agencies. This is the trauma band-aid, providing emergency supports to community members in the greatest need.
In the intermediate term, and during the life of the two-year grant, the Connected Together Initiative will provide a local training and certification opportunity for mental health providers, enhancing the overall capacity of our community to diagnose trauma-related mental health disorders and provide appropriate, evidence-based treatment. At the end of the two-year grant period, at least 10 licensed mental health providers in Lebanon County will complete a certification in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) Therapy.
This treatment can be used with both children and adults. It has been shown to mitigate trauma symptoms and increase the success of therapeutic interventions. This part of the strategy is like the stitches for trauma, beginning to dig deeper into the issue and creating opportunities for intergenerational healing and long-term support.
Finally, the Connected Together Lebanon County Initiative will root out the underlying causes of trauma by implementing the Communities That Care process for violence prevention through the Connected Together Community Leaders project. The Connected Together program will be coordinated by a full-time staff member, who will be an employee of SARCC.
The Connected Together Initiative will identify community stakeholders in Lebanon City, Annville Township, Palmyra Borough, and Myerstown Borough. These community leaders will be trained in violence prevention, trauma-informed responses, and community mobilization. This group of 8-12 leaders will make up the Connected Together Community Leaders.
Armed with data from local surveys, the community groups will develop a violence prevention strategy that is unique to their community and needs. They will integrate into the existing Connected Together work group through the Community Health Council and will evaluate their efforts using the Communities that Care 5-stage change process. This final effort is the trauma surgery that will seek to cut out the underlying risk factors for violence in these four key communities.
Also checkout this article on the initiative from LebTown:
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