The Office of Injury and Violence Prevention was recently created to coordinate and promote efforts to reduce violence. The office will strengthen work across the State to assess risk and bolster public health efforts. This includes the creation, coordination, and collaboration of injury and violence prevention work through:
- Adult and youth suicide awareness campaigns
- Connecting individuals to resources
- Fostering community connectedness
- Sharing risk reduction best practices
The Office of Injury and Violence Prevention will include a focus on education and awareness of mental health and substance use disorder resources available in Maine, suicide prevention services, safe storage best practices, and laws related to injury and violence prevention.
Suicide Prevention
You can make a difference by learning more about suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, self harm, or experiencing a behavioral health crisis call 988. Find reports and data dashboards with data by county, gender, and age.
Data
Work is underway to establish a central hub to consolidate data sources on violence-related injuries and deaths. These currently exist separately in police reports, medical examiner files, and emergency department files. More details to come as the central data hub develops.
Value of Injury and Violence Prevention
Violence and injury can have a big impact on individuals, families, and communities. In addition to how it may change a person's life, there is also financial impact. Better understanding the actual cost of these impacts clearly show the value in prevention work. This economics of injury and violence prevention page highlights some of these costs.
Staff and Contact
The Office of Injury and Violence Prevention is led by Director Jamie Bourque and will include four Community Violence Prevention staff.