Breadcrumb
- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
Traumatic Stress and Suicide after Disasters
This report highlights research on disasters (PDF, 21 pages) and their relationship to traumatic stress, suicide rates, and suicidal ideation, planning, and attempts. It examines rates of suicide and suicidal thinking and behaviors following disasters as well as the populations that may be at risk for traumatic stress and suicide after disasters.
Sports and Mental Health
This blog post describes the benefits of participating in sports, as well as the risks. It highlights many of the programs and resources available to support athletes who may be struggling with mental illness or substance abuse.
Suicide and Race
This blog post highlights recent research which found that from 1993 to 2012, school-aged suicide trends stayed constant, but suicide incidence in black children significantly increased. The post describes the need for more research into risk and protective factors for African American children and the experiences that put them more at risk for depression, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts. It also provides resources for individuals who want to learn more about suicide prevention or who may know someone who is at risk of harming themselves.
Blog: Everyday Trauma in our Communities: A Critical Mental Health Issue — A Public Health Crisis
This blog post describes the impact of experiencing and/or witnessing violence or traumatic events and the effect it can have on mental health and daily functioning. The post also highlights SAMHSA’s efforts to better understand how communities respond to violence and protect the safety and well-being of citizens.
Resource: Anniversaries and Trigger Events
An anniversary of a disaster or tragic event can renew feelings of fear, anxiety, and sadness in disaster survivors. This resource provides tips for survivors and their families for coping with renewed stress as an anniversary approaches or when trigger events suddenly occur.
Resource: SAMHSA eBooks
SAMHSA offers many of its resources in an eBook format, allowing readers to access these materials more easily on mobile devices, tablets, and e-readers.
Resource: Social Media as a Tool for Addressing Behavioral Health
This article describes SAMHSA’s efforts to use social media to provide information and participate in the conversation about behavioral health issues through popular social networks. It lists examples of how SAMHSA has used blogging, Twitter, and Facebook to respond quickly to trending stories and engage with the public.
Reports: Regional Behavioral Health Barometers
SAMHSA released a series of behavioral health barometers presenting data for each of the 10 HHS regions of the United States. Each report uses data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health related to youth and adult mental health and substance use and treatment.
Resource: Understanding Child Trauma
This infographic provides key statistics and information to help the public recognize the signs of child traumatic stress. This infographic can be downloaded as a whole or by the three key subject areas and will also be available for Spanish-speaking audiences later in 2016.
Resource: Helping Kids Recover and Thrive
This PSA videos were developed to help people better understand child traumatic stress and the importance of support in a child’s recovery. There are two versions, and both are available in English and Spanish.
Resource: Understanding Child Trauma
This infographic provides key statistics and information to help the public recognize the signs of child traumatic stress.
Resource: Substance Use and Suicide: A Nexus Requiring a Public Health Approach
This article (PDF, 19 pages) summarizes the relationship between substance use and suicide and provides state and tribal prevention professionals with information on the scope of the problem, an understanding of traditional barriers to collaboration and current programming, and ways to work together on substance misuse and suicide prevention strategies.
Resource: LGBTQ Youth: Voices of Trauma, Lives of Promise
This video features the voices of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth describing their experiences with trauma related to their identities and how mental health professionals have helped them.
Report: Serious Thoughts of Suicide Among Young Adults
This report (PDF, 7 pages) provides state-by-state data on the level of young adults, ages 18-25, who have had serious thoughts of suicide in the past year, based on data from the 2013-2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
Resource: Virtual Learning Lab for Campus Suicide Prevention
This virtual module guides colleges and universities in creating comprehensive approaches to suicide prevention. Developed by the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, it includes step-by-step guidance, activities, worksheets, and examples to help campuses set goals, plan, and implement effective suicide prevention programs and trainings.
Resource: Promoting Positive Pathways to Adulthood: Pathways Transition Training Toolkit
This toolkit includes 10 free training modules for service providers who work with youth and young adults, ages 14-29, who have mental health challenges, and their families. Developed by the Pathways Transition Training Partnership and the Research and Training Center for Pathways to Positive Futures, this training can enhance service providers’ skills to engage with young people, collaborate with families, and work with the agencies and systems in which young people are involved.
Resource: Campaign to Change Direction
This campaign aims to change the culture of mental health in the U.S. by raising awareness about the five signs of emotional suffering and addressing common barriers to understanding these conditions. Developed in partnership with Give an Hour, the campaign website offers public service announcements, social media posts, and posters the public can use to spread the word.
Share with Youth: Advice to Young Adults from Young Adults: Helpful Hints for Policy Change in the Mental Health System
This resource (PDF, 8 pages) can guide youth- and young adult-led organizations that want to make policy changes in the mental health system. Developed bythe Research and Training Center for Pathways to Positive Futures and Portland State University, it contains recommendations and quotes from a series of interviews with young adult leaders from advocacy groups that focus on mental health challenges or living in foster care.
Resource: Tribal Behavioral Health Agenda
This agenda, developed in collaboration with the National Indian Health Board, (PDF, 96 pages) highlights how behavioral health challenges affect Native communities and describes strategies to reduce these problems and improve the behavioral health of American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN). Tribal leaders, tribal council members, tribal administrators, AI/AN health advocates, and federal agency representatives can use this resource to collaborate on actions to address the behavioral health needs of AI/ANs and to chart priorities for funding, programs, and policy decisions.
Resource: Complex Trauma Fact Sheets
This series of fact sheets describes complex trauma and provides recommendations for a variety of audiences on how to support youth. Developed by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network’s Complex Trauma and Developmental Trauma Disorder Work Group, the fact sheets include:
- Complex Trauma: Facts for Directors, Administrators, and Staff in Residential Settings (PDF, 6 pages) — Gives information for staff in Residential Treatment Centers on how to understand behavior through a trauma lens and provides recommendations on trauma-informed residential policies, staff training and self-care, and the developmental and educational needs of youth.
- Complex Trauma: Facts for Treatment Staff in Residential Settings (PDF, 4 pages) — Provides general guidelines for treatment providers on using a holistic, multidisciplinary, multi-level approach to address the needs of youth with complex trauma in Residential Treatment settings.
- Complex Trauma: In Urban African-American Children, Youth, and Families (PDF, 4 pages) — Describes the specific barriers that African Americans face in obtaining needed services and offers ideas for providers on building supportive relationships with African-American children and families who have experienced complex trauma.
- Complex Trauma: In Juvenile Justice System-Involved Youth (PDF, 7 pages) — Describes the path from complex trauma exposure to involvement in the juvenile justice system and presents recommendations for judges and juvenile justice program administrators, parents and family members, and adults who supervise youth.
Share with Youth: Family Education Materials
These materials provide information on treatment options and support services for various mental challenges. Developed in collaboration with the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Psychological Association, and the American Psychiatric Association, these materials cover topics such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, depression, first-episode psychosis, anxiety disorder, and obsessive compulsive disorder.
Resource: SAMHSA’s Data Archive
This website features SAMHSA data collections, maps, reports, public use data files, analysis tools, and other information related to data. Users can browse by topic or publication type and request data based on a specific need.
Report: Behavioral Health Barometer, Volume 4
This report presents national data about the prevalence of behavioral health conditions, including the rate of serious mental illness, suicidal thoughts, substance use, and underage drinking. The report also highlights the percentages of individuals who seek treatment for these conditions.
Resource: Learning Center for the National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices
This website provides resources related to evidence-based programs and practices in behavioral health. Professionals can use these resources to develop, implement, and sustain evidenced-based programs to improve behavioral health in local communities.
Share with Youth: College and Your Mental Health
This guide, developed by the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the Jed Foundation, can help new college students and their parents understand the importance of learning and communicating about mental health.