Dear ACEs Aware Stakeholders,

As the COVID-19 public health emergency continues, many Californians are continuing to experience secondary impacts on their mental health. To help tackle this challenge, I recently collaborated on a letter with the Directors of Health Care Services and Public Health, encouraging all California medical and behavioral health providers to ask their patients the four “Ask Suicide-Screening Questions” developed by the National Institute of Mental Health.

The letter gives simple instructions and resources about what to do if you identify someone who is at risk. You can’t help if you don’t ask – and if you ask – you could help someone get the help they need.

Individuals with four or more Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are about 38 times as likely to attempt suicide, when compared to individuals with no ACEs.

For more information on addressing ACEs in your clinical practice, visit www.ACEsAware.org.

Please view the letter here.

Thank you,

Nadine Burke Harris, MD, MPH, California Surgeon General

Office of the California Surgeon General