Strengthening Chicago’s Youth (SCY), in partnership with our colleagues at The Teamwork to Reduce Infant, Child, and Adolescent Mortality (TRICAM) program have developed a Firearm Safety Toolkit, which includes Illinois-specific information and guidance for both healthcare providers and caregivers. The toolkit is available below as an electronic version with hyperlinks and a print version with full URLs.
The full URL version was created so that the Resources for Parents and Caregivers section may be printed and distributed as a handout. Key components of the Firearm Safety Toolkit include:
- Firearm laws and their implications for clinical practice
- Key requirements to own a firearm
- Ways healthcare providers can engage parents and caregivers in child firearm safety
- Resources for parents and caregivers, including firearm disposal and storage options
The TRICAM program has also developed several suicide prevention resources for providers and families, which can be found on the TRICAM resources webpage. For ease of reference, these resources have been organized into a convenient, one-page overview document.
Additionally, in alignment with the Lurie Children’s Zero Suicide Implementation and the increased demand for mental & behavioral health care, TRICAM has obtained a limited number of cable gun locks to distribute, free of charge, to the patients and caregivers of patients who have unsecured firearms in their homes. These gunlocks are supplied through a partnership with the Chicago Police Department and beginning in October, will be available to those interfacing with providers in: Adolescent & Young Adult Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Inpatient Psychiatry, and Social Work.
