Utah Coalition for Protecting Childhood (UCPC)
The Utah Coalition for Protecting Childhood (UCPC) is a multidisciplinary statewide coalition committed to ensuring safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments for all Utah’s Children. This cross-sector coalition focuses on addressing societal-level challenges through policy and programs focused on improved economic stability for families; enhanced parenting skills and support systems for families; improved access to quality childcare and education; and encouragement of trauma-informed systems that identify and support families that need support. This effort is funded through the CDC’s Essentials for Childhood grant and informed by the following CDC technical packages:
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ACEs learning collaboratives
Every quarter, The Violence and Injury Prevention Program and The Utah Coalition for Protecting Childhood invite local and national experts to share information on topic areas outlined in UCPC’s state plan for the primary prevention of child maltreatment and adverse childhood experiences. These learning events are virtual, free of charge, and offer limited continuing education credits for attendees.
2023
ACEs Learning Collaborative: Primary prevention screening in the healthcare setting.
July 2023 ACEs Learning Collaborative. Special guest Neal Davis, MD, Intermountain Health.
Learn about social risk and resilience factors that impact a child's health and wellness over their lifespan. Hear about Intermountain Health's initiatives and strategies to screen for social determinants of health (SDoH) in the primary care setting. Learn about the data and research supporting the Safe Environments of Every Kid (SEEK) model of care. Both in the context of SDoH and prevention of child maltreatment and ACEs. Explore lessons learned over a decades-long journey to address risk, resilience, and the SDoH impacting health across the lifespan.
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Social connectedness as a core public health and primary prevention strategy
Healthy, positive social connection is one of the most powerful protective factors, reducing risk for poor mental and physical health outcomes across the lifespan. Social isolation has been shown to negatively impact life expectancy, but it is often overlooked as a significant protective factor for adverse childhood experiences, family and community violence, and suicide.
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Child and Family Well-being System: Economics & Concrete Supports as Core Component
The intersection of family economic insecurity and involvement with the child welfare system is well established. In this session, participants will learn about evidence-based practices, and federal and state policies which create innovative pathways to increase economic and concrete supports that strengthen families and prevent family separation. With special guest Yasmin Grewal-Kök, Chapin Hall, University of Chicago.
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2022
Protective Factors Framework provided by the Utah Family Strengthening Network
The Protective Factor Framework is a research-informed approach to strengthening families. When implemented it enhances child development, increases family strengths, reduces risk for child abuse and neglect, and enables children to thrive. As this is a paid professional training, this event was not recorded. For information on scheduling a PFF training, please contact The Utah Family Strengthening Network.
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Promoting Prevention Through Parental Engagement
Research shows that the most effective way to ensure safe, healthy childhoods is to first support the concrete, mental, and emotional needs of parents and caregivers. In this session, participants will learn about the formal and informal barriers and facilitators to good parental and child health and safety outcomes, as well as innovative approaches within Utah communities to improve outcomes for children and families. With special guests, Trisha Reynolds, Utah Division of Child and Family Services, Barbara Leavitt, United Way of Utah County, and Vonda Jump Norman, Utah State University. (Two-day paid professional training, not recorded)
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Family-Friendly Workplaces: Better Workforces, Stronger Families
Family-friendly workplace policies (FFWP) are good for families, businesses, and the economy. In this session, participants will learn about the positive benefits of FFWP and what is being done in Utah to enable a healthy work/life balance for parents and children.
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Utah Healthy Places Index Launch Webinar
In this session, participants will learn about The Utah Healthy Places Index (HPI). The HPI is a powerful and easy-to-use data and policy platform created to advance health equity through open and accessible data. It's an evidence-based and peer-reviewed tool that can help support efforts to prioritize equitable community investments, develop critical programs and policies across the state, and much more.
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2021
Surviving and Thriving Beyond 2020
Surviving and Thriving Beyond 2020: The Trauma-Informed Approach with special guests Mary Beth Vogel-Ferguson, Sarah Shea, and Kara Patin with the Trauma-Informed Utah Initiative. This recording is currently unavailable. For more information on implementing a trauma-informed approach in your organization, please contact Trauma Informed Utah.
Strengthening Economic Supports for Families W/Special Guests Connect to Collect, U of U and Tax Help Utah
The federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is the most impactful social program you’ve never heard about. In this session, participants will learn how the EITC can reduce the risk for child maltreatment and ACEs and improve health across the lifespan, and how lower-income Utahns can access free tax filing services. With special guests Greg McDonald, Tax Help Utah, Lori Kowaleski-Jones, and Viridiana Najera, University of Utah’s Connect to Collect Program.
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Evidence-Based Home Visiting Improves Childhood Outcomes in Utah w/special guests Prevent Child Abuse Utah, Utah Dept of Health Office of Home Visiting
Early childhood home visiting is an evidence-based primary prevention strategy which has been shown to promote infant and child health, foster educational development and school readiness, and prevent child abuse and neglect - all at no cost to the participant family. In this session, participants will learn about Utah’s home visiting programs and how they work to ensure all Utah children have safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments. With special guests Laurieann Thorpe and Katherine Bark.
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Background data
Positive childhood experiences reports:
Publications:
Adverse childhood experiences:
Utah’s Public Health Indicator Based Information System (IBIS):
Publications:
Safe stable nurturing relationships and environments:
- To better understand the community conditions that support safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments, please visit the Utah Healthy Places Index (HPI). The HPI is a powerful and easy-to-use data and policy platform created to advance health equity through open and accessible data. An evidence-based and peer-reviewed tool, the HPI can help guide efforts to prioritize equitable community investments, develop critical programs and policies at the state and local levels, and much more. Neighborhood-by-neighborhood, the Utah HPI maps data on social conditions that drive health — like education, job opportunities, clean air, and other indicators that are positively associated with life expectancy at birth.
Utah Healthy Places Index
The Utah Healthy Places Index (HPI) is a powerful and easy-to-use data and policy platform created to advance health equity through open and accessible data. It's an evidence-based and peer-reviewed tool that can help support efforts to prioritize equitable community investments, develop critical programs and policies across the state, and much more. Neighborhood-by-neighborhood, the Utah HPI maps data on social conditions that drive health — like education, job opportunities, clean air, and other indicators that are positively associated with life expectancy at birth.
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Primary prevention and adverse/positive childhood experiences education resources:
Videos:
- The Violence and Injury Prevention Program has developed a series of trainings that are focused on different aspects of the primary prevention of violence and injury.
- ACEs Primer - From KPJR Films, this short video summarizes the ACEs study and what it means for population health. (Length - 4:59)
- Introduction to HOPE - Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences (HOPE) represents a paradigm shift in how we see and talk about the positive experiences that support children’s growth and development into healthy, resilient adults.
- Brain Builders - From Alberta Family Wellness and the Harvard Center for the Developing Child, this animated video describes how toxic stress impacts early brain development (Length - 4:05).
- Harvard Center for the Developing Child - The Harvard Center for the Developing Child has videos on a variety of topics including brain architecture, the impacts of early adversity, and building resilience.
- How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Across a Lifetime - From TED.com, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris discusses the need for a public health approach to preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences (Length - 15:59).
- Raising of America (select scenes, paywall for the full series ) - From California Newsreel, the producers of Raising of America (Various lengths and topics from the film series).
- Paper Tigers (paywall) - From KPJR Films, Paper Tigers follows a year in the life of an alternative high school that has radically changed its approach to disciplining its students, becoming a promising model for how to break the cycles of poverty, violence, and disease that affect families.
- Resilience : The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope (paywall) - From KPJR films, as a follow-up to Paper Tigers, Resilience chronicles the birth of a new movement among pediatricians, therapists, educators, and communities, who are using cutting-edge brain science to disrupt cycles of violence, addiction, and disease.