Promoting Primary Prevention

Promoting Primary Prevention Strategies for Building Community Resilience

Featuring Susan Garrett, Former RHC in Region 4

Upon joining the Regional Health Connector workforce in October 2020, Susan Garrett developed a local priority project focused on promoting primary prevention strategies for building community resilience in El Paso and Teller counties.

As a former Emergency Department and Trauma nurse who later transitioned to working in local public health for more than a decade, Susan saw firsthand the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic was having on healthcare workers, educators, and teens in her region. Susan’s early work as an RHC focused on building awareness for resiliency resources such as GRIT (Greater Resilience Information Toolkit), which offers tailored resiliency training for community members, healthcare workers, educators, first responders, and small businesses, and Mental Health First Aid for teens which teaches teens ages 15-18 how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental health and substance use challenges among their friends and peers.

Susan Garret, Former Region 4 RHC

Susan has continued her focus on behavioral health support for youth through her BHRA project where she addressed access to safe and affirming behavioral health care to address the disproportionately high suicide rate among LGTBQ+ youth.