Connecticut Priority Topic Investments

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Connecticut Overdose Investment Snapshot

Combatting the current overdose crisis is a priority for the agency. This page provides an overview of the FY21 CDC Injury Center (NCIPC) overdose investments for the state of Connecticut.

There were 91,799 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2020 (28.3 deaths per 100,000 standard population), a stark 30% increase from 2019. Approximately 75% of drug overdose deaths in 2020 involved an opioid, with synthetic opioids (e.g., illicitly manufactured fentanyls) accounting for more than 80% of all opioid-involved deaths. Drug overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids increased by 55% and deaths involving psychostimulants (e.g., methamphetamine) increased by 47% from 2019 to 2020. Drug overdose deaths involving cocaine also increased by 22%.

In 2020 in Connecticut there were:

1,371

overdose deaths

39.1

overdose deaths per 100,000 people (age-adjusted)

Source: NVSS – Drug Overdose Deaths

Overdose Funding At A Glance

Suicide Funding At A Glance
$5,529,696 FY21 Connecticut Total Overdose Prevention Funding	FY21 Awards Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) Connecticut State Award: $5,455,196 Public Health and Public Safety Overdose Response Strategy: $74,500* *average award amount

Examples of How Connecticut Is Working to Prevent Overdose

Overdose strategies
	Partnerships enhance surveillance Connecticut collaborates with the New England High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) and local syringe service programs to conduct drug toxicology surveillance. The results of these tests track changes in the illicit drug supply, detect overdose spikes or clusters, and inform public health response.
	Campaigns to address stigma Connecticut promoted three statewide campaigns to address stigma surrounding opioids, overdose, treatment, and naloxone use.

CDC Overdose Prevention Strategies

CDC’s Injury Center plays a critical role in addressing the drug overdose epidemic by driving progress in the five strategic priorities that guide CDC’s response framework for preventing overdoses.

Additional Resources

Connecticut Suicide Prevention Investment Snapshot

Preventing suicide is a priority for the agency. This page provides an overview of the FY21 CDC Injury Center (NCIPC) suicide prevention investments for the state of Connecticut.

Suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States. It was responsible for almost 46,000 deaths in 2020, which is about one death every 11 minutes. The number of people who think about or attempt suicide is even higher. In 2020, 12.2 million American adults seriously thought about suicide, 3.2 million planned a suicide attempt, and 1.2 million attempted suicide.

In 2020 in Connecticut there were:

364

suicide deaths

9.3

suicide deaths per 100k population (age-adjusted)

Source: Suicide Rates by State (cdc.gov)

Suicide Prevention Funding At A Glance

Suicide Funding At A Glance
$700,000 FY21 Connecticut Total Suicide Prevention Funding	FY21 Awards Comprehensive Suicide Prevention Connecticut Department of Public Health: $700,000

Connecticut's Priorities

Connecticut is preventing suicide with CDC Injury Center (NCIPC) funding by:

Strengthening access and delivery of suicide care
Creating protective environments
Promoting connectedness
Teaching coping and problem-solving skills
Identifying and supporting people at risk
Lessening harms and preventing future risk

Some groups have higher rates of suicide than others. To address disparities, Connecticut is focusing on:

Youth and young adults ages 10-24
Non-Hispanic white middle-aged males (aged 35-64)

Disclaimer

This snapshot reflects suicide prevention priorities and activities under Year 1 funding of the Comprehensive Suicide Prevention (CSP) Program. This information is subject to change, as the CSP state recipients are now in Year 2 funding.

Examples of How Connecticut Is Working to Prevent Suicide

Suicide strategies
	Teaching mental health The Connecticut Department of Public Health is supporting the roll-out of Gizmo’s Pawesome Guide to Mental Health© elementary curriculum, a mental health promotion and social-emotional learning curriculum directed at 3rd-5th graders.
	Providing emotional support The Connecticut Suicide Advisory Board postvention subcommittee plans to reach out to families, schools, and other identified loss survivors to provide emotional support and resources for coping with loss and grief, and warning signs for suicide risk.

CDC Suicide Prevention Strategies

Suicide is preventable and there is no single cause, so prevention requires addressing the multiple factors linked to suicide at the individual, relationship, community, and societal levels. As such, CDC is leading a comprehensive approach to suicide prevention. Such an approach aims to prevent people from becoming suicidal in the first place and support people at increased risk. CDC uses data to track and monitor suicide trends, research possible risks and what works to prevent them, and help communities put proven suicide prevention strategies into place.

CDC’s Suicide Prevention Resource for Action outlines seven strategies that are based on the best available evidence to help communities and states focus on prevention activities with the greatest potential to prevent suicide.

Strengthen economic supports
Create protective environments
Improve access and delivery of suicide care
Promote healthy connections
Teach coping and problem-solving skills
Identify and support people at risk
Lessen harms and prevent future risk

Near Real-Time Surveillance
Improving surveillance – collecting better and more timely data is also an important strategy to better understand, monitor, and prevent suicide and suicidal behavior. Expanding surveillance of nonfatal suicide-related outcomes (e.g., suicide attempts, suicide ideation) can help improve timeliness of data, identify spikes, and inform prevention and response.

Additional Resources

Connecticut ACEs Investment Snapshot

ACEs are preventable, potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood (0-17 years) such as neglect, experiencing or witnessing violence, or having a family member attempt or die by suicide. Across 25 states surveyed in 2019, 61% of adults had at least one ACE and 16% had 4 or more types of ACEs. Preventing ACEs could reduce a large number of health conditions, including up to 21 million cases of depression, 1.9 million cases of heart disease, and 2.5 million cases of overweight/obesity.

Between 2018-2019 in Connecticut:

35.6%

of the population reported experiencing one or more ACEs*

*ACEs statistics are reported by parents and include all reports of ACEs except for child abuse and physical neglect (Source: National Survey on Children’s Health).

ACEs Funding At A Glance

ACEs Funding At A Glance
$515,000 Total ACEs Funding Appropriated within Connecticut for FY21 Activities	FY21 Awards Preventing ACEs: Data to Action (PACE:D2A) Connecticut Office of Early Childhood: $500,000 Youth Risk Behavior Survey Connecticut Department of Public Health: $15,000

Examples of How Connecticut Is Working to Prevent ACEs

ACEs strategies
Surveillance activities The Connecticut Office of Early Childhood is adding questions about experiencing ACEs to the Connecticut YRBS to provide representative state-wide estimates of ACEs for Connecticut public high school students. The Connecticut Office of Early Childhood is also bringing together ACEs-related data from across state agencies to better understand and characterize ACEs in Connecticut communities, including data from the Connecticut Departments of Children and Family Services; Education; and Mental Health and Addiction Services.
Prevention strategies and approaches The Connecticut Office of Early Childhood is ensuring a strong start for children by providing training on ACE risk and protective factors to early childhood home visitation providers; promoting social norms that protect against violence and adversity through a public education campaign promoting safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments for children and families; strengthening economic supports to families by informing policies that strengthen household financial security and by increasing the number of families who claim the Earned Income Tax Credit; and teaching skills by strengthening learning approaches that support the development of resilience.

CDC ACEs Prevention and Mitigation Strategies

ACEs and their associated harms are preventable. Creating and sustaining safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments for all children and families can prevent ACEs and help all children reach their full health and life potential. CDC has produced a suite of technical packages to help states and communities take advantage of the best available evidence to prevent violence, including the many types of violence and social, economic, and other exposures in the home and community that adversely affect children.

From this suite of technical packages, CDC developed Preventing ACEs: Leveraging the Best Available Evidence, which outlines six strategies that can prevent ACEs from happening in the first place as well as mitigate the harms of ACEs.