Tennessee Priority Topic Investments
Click on any of the tabs below to learn more about each topic.
Tennessee 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 Tennessee.
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 Tennessee there were:
3,034
overdose deaths
45.6
overdose deaths per 100,000 people (age-adjusted)
Source: NVSS – Drug Overdose Deaths
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Overdose Data to Action (OD2A)
Public Health and Public Safety
*average award amount |
Examples of How Tennessee Is Working to Prevent Overdose
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Comprehensive protocol
Tennessee expanded the scope of the Tennessee Recovery Navigator Program, which is designing a comprehensive overdose and opioid withdrawal protocol at the hospital in Rutherford County and area emergency departments, including screening, initiation of medication for opioid use disorder, access to naloxone, and referral to recovery services. |
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Syringe service programs
Tennessee completed a media campaign related to overdose, resulting in a 20% increase in calls to treatment providers by individuals seeking access to substance use disorder treatment. |
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
Tennessee 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 Tennessee.
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 Tennessee there were:
1,220
suicide deaths
17.1
suicide deaths per 100,000 people (age-adjusted)
Source: Suicide Rates by State (cdc.gov)
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Comprehensive Suicide Prevention
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Tennessee is preventing suicide with CDC Injury Center (NCIPC) funding by:
- Strengthening access and delivery of suicide care
- Teaching coping and problem-solving skills
- Identifying and supporting people at risk
Some groups have higher suicide rates than others. To address disparities, Tennessee is focusing on:
- Residents of all rural counties, specifically men and people aged 15-64 living in rural counties
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 Tennessee Is Working to Prevent Suicide
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Expanding trainings
The Tennessee Department of Health is expanding its Be the One gatekeeper training program, which is specifically designed to increase the workforce staff’s ability to identify suicide warning signs among co-workers and refer them to appropriate resources. |
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Educating the public
The Tennessee Department of Health is funding the Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network to develop and promote education for providers and the public about the mental health parity laws. These laws ensure that health insurance coverage for mental-health related visits is on par with coverage for physical health-related visits. |
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 SurveillanceImproving 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
Tennessee ACEs Investment Snapshot
Preventing, identifying, and responding to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) is a priority for the agency. This page provides an overview of the FY21 CDC Injury Center (NCIPC) ACEs investments for the state of Tennessee.
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 Tennessee:
43.7%
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).
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Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS)
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Beyond the ACEs appropriation, CDC supports several initiatives, research, and partnerships to build state and tribal surveillance infrastructure and enhance ACEs prevention and mitigation.
In Tennessee, some of those other initiatives include:
Examples of How Tennessee Is Working to Prevent ACEs
| Surveillance activities
Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools and the Shelby County Board of Education are adding questions about experiencing ACEs to the YRBS to provide representative state-wide estimates of ACEs among public high school students in Nashville and Shelby Counties. |
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.
