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Our hearts and prayers go out to the all the families affected by the horrific tragedy in Connecticut yesterday: Important resources Listed below.

Posted by The Colorado Rocky Mountain Chapter of NAPNAP on
Louisville, CO
The Colorado Rocky Mountain Chapter of NAPNAP
Thank you Lynn Gilbert and Mary Weber for sending the following email message out to provide resources for individules and familes to assist them in speaking with their own children about the recent trauma and coping with the saddness and fear that most all parents are feeling right now:
 
"Once again we are experiencing such a horrific tragedy that has no words to provide much immediate relief.  It will take time for all of us to heal once again.  Lynn Gilbert has sent out some resources for children coping with violence (see far below).   I am also including some national hotline numbers.  These incidences may re-traumatize vulnerable individuals, and certainly those directly impacted by Columbine and by the Aurora shootings.  Our students may also be impacted by these events.  Here are general hotline numbers for yourselves, family members and students including victims of violence, suicide prevention hotlines, and domestic violence hotlines.  
 
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Another tragedy has hit our country, and children have been targeted in a place where they should feel safe. Though it may take days and weeks to learn the details of the tragedy in Connecticut today, we must act quickly to help the children and youth around us to make sense of this violence.
 
After the Aurora shooting this summer, Christine Harms, director of the Colorado School Safety Resource Center<http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/CDPS-SafeSchools/CBON/1251621089752/>, wrote a great brief article offering advice on talking with youth about a tragedy<http://www.ednewscolorado.org/2012/07/21/40912-ask-an-expert-children-and-tragedy>. As parents, educators, or as members of any community, the best support we can provide is a listening ear, honesty, emphasis on the positive responses and heroism in the midst of the tragedy, and limited access to the most traumatic information and images.
 
Our national mental health partners and experts have provided additional resources for responding to trauma. The Substance Abuse has a resource offering tips for speaking with children about trauma in age-appropriate ways<http://store.samhsa.gov/shin/content/SMA12-4732/SMA12-4732.pdf>. The American Psychological Association also highlighted ways to help children cope <http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/aftermath.aspx> with this type of distress as well as ways to manage your own distress in response to a traumatic event<http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/mass-shooting.aspx>. And the American Academy for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry has a helpful list for talking with children about community violence<http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/resources_for_families/talking_to_children_about_community_violence>.
 
The hearts of CDPHE employees and all Coloradans go out to the Newtown community and the victims and their families.
 
 
Posted: 14 Dec 2012 08:01 AM PST
 
 
Colorado highlights the importance of mental health among men through a campaign that is getting a lot of attention, not to mention a few laughs. Mantherapy<http://mantherapy.org/#/center> uses a fictional therapist, Dr. Rich Mahogany, to highlight the importance of expressing emotion and getting help when it is needed.
 
Colorado currently ranks 8th among states for suicide. Among all suicides completed in 2011, 57 percent were males between 25 and 64 years old.
 
Watch the interview with Prevention Services Division's Jarrod Hindman and read more at 9News.com<http://www.9news.com/news/local/article/304873/222/Campaign-targets-depression-anxiety-and-suicide-with-humor>."