Abstract for:Many Members, One Body: Learning faith community preferences in comprehensive and collaborative approaches to prevent suicide and related premature death by injury

Rates of injurious death due to overdose and suicide are markedly on the rise in communities across the U.S. Multi-system stakeholder taskforces are emerging to prevent deaths from injury, with recognition there is no simple answer. While health systems-based responses are sought, these can contribute to epidemics through opioid prescribing practices or failing to reach medically underserved communities. Engagements of other community systems, such as faith-based health ministries, are then called upon to respond in medically underserved communities. Yet, no models of dynamics exist that convey the complexity of interdependencies between diverse systems driving intervention such as faith community settings in medically underserved communities, if broadly effective community efforts are to be built. Engaging faith-based systems with health service systems remains a challenge that can be met through shared understanding of the “value-add” of works that seek to prevent injurious death affecting one setting versus another. We are Injury Control Research Center for Suicide Prevention partners of the Interdenominational Health Ministry Coalition in New York State. We have collaboratively initiated a participatory model building research effort to learn how prevention of suicide and risk-related premature death from overdose can occur in these settings, and in comparison to local/state health system models. We will discuss feasibility and acceptability of assembling concept models for simulation as foundations for such broad-based community learning.