Last year, the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) launched a resource meant to help local health departments (LHD) prevent or mitigate potentially traumatic events, known as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). The Suicide, Overdose, and Adverse Childhood Experiences Prevention Capacity Assessment Tool (SPACECAT) allows LHDs to make an internal assessment of their capacity to address and prevent a still-growing public health issue. After the assessment, the SPACECAT Toolkit provides online information and guidance for strengthening local efforts. Since its launch in October 2021, NACCHO has collected data from more than 100 LHDs who completed the assessment tool. This week, the organization released a report on what they learned from small (serving 50,000 people or less), medium (serving 50,000-499,999 people), and large (serving 500,000 or more people) local health departments.
