Join us to explore risk and protective factors that shape child injury prevention, with a special focus on connectedness as a powerful, prevention-forward protective factor across injury areas, including suicide and bullying prevention.
Together, with presenters Natalie Wilkins, Health Scientist and team lead at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Adolescent and School Health (CDC DASH) and Clare Grace Jones, Senior Training and Technical Assistance provider from the Children’s Safety Network, we’ll explore how strengthening connections among youth, families, schools, and communities can reduce risk and build protective buffers that improve safety for children and adolescents. We will look at data sources that help identify populations at greatest risk for injury and support data-driven decision making. A highlight of the webinar will be a “share from the field” presentation led by two Child Safety Learning Collaborative members from the Tennessee Department of Public Health, Melissa Muñoz, Suicide Prevention Program Director, and Terry Love, Injury Prevention Director and a member of the Children’s Safety Now Alliance. Together they will discuss Tennessee’s Child Safety Learning Collaborative Team and its work with youth “impactors” — young leaders and influencers who help shift norms, strengthen connectedness, and build protective factors within their communities to support suicide prevention efforts.
Come prepared to share your ideas and questions related to increasing protective factors for child and adolescent injury prevention!
Presenters
Clare Grace Jones, Senior Training & Technical Assistance Associate, is a public health and safety expert specializing in capacity building, instructional design, training, quality improvement, project support, and virtual engagement. A Community Prevention Specialist, she has 20 years of experience promoting public health, with a focus on substance misuse prevention and the Strategic Prevention Framework. Jones advances health, behavioral health, safety, and injury and violence prevention initiatives through her roles with the Children’s Safety Network, and as the Sudden Unexpected Infant Death Prevention Topic Lead of the Child Safety Learning Collaborative.
Melissa Muñoz, Suicide Prevention Program Director at the Tennessee Department of Health, oversees the implementation of statewide suicide prevention strategies and programs. With a background in Global Public Health and Sociology from New York University, Mrs. Muñoz brings a data-driven and human-centered approach to advancing community mental health and well-being across Tennessee.
Natalie Wilkins, PhD, is a Health Scientist and team lead at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Adolescent and School Health (CDC DASH). Since joining CDC in 2008, her work has focused primarily on promoting positive youth development through applied research and knowledge translation within the context of injury and violence prevention and adolescent health promotion. Natalie has led numerous projects in collaboration with public health partners at the federal, state, and local levels to prevent child maltreatment, youth violence, suicide, and substance use and to promote mental health and sexual health among young people. With a strong commitment to research and practice integration, Natalie has worked extensively on translating scientific findings into actionable resources, tools, and strategies for public health practitioners. She currently serves as the lead of CDC DASH’s Research Translation and Dissemination Team. Natalie received a BA in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Richmond and an MA and PhD in Community Psychology from Georgia State University.
Terry Love, MS, is a community leader with over 25 years of experience in community-based prevention. He has worked in multiple settings to develop leaders and motivate stakeholders to facilitate population level change in school, community, and statewide settings. Using data, evidence-based methods, and policy, he has assisted communities with identifying and mitigating the root causes of behavioral health problems and implemented population level change strategies. He enjoys the process of influencing change and is eager to share his knowledge with others. Terry works as the Injury Prevention Director for the Tennessee Department of Health with a goal of reducing multiple injuries and issues, including motor vehicle crashes, sports injury, traumatic brain injury, suicide, and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). He is a member of the national Sate States Alliance Executive Board, where he serves on the Safe States Alliance Special Interest Group and Safe States Policy Committee. He is active in the Southeastern and Southwestern Regional Injury Prevention Network and other Tennessee multi-sectoral injury prevention coalitions. Terry enjoys exploring Tennessee with his wife Tammy and daughter Anna Marie.