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Injury-Free NC Academy

What is the Injury-Free NC (IFNC) Academy?

The IFNC Academy is a training and program development resource for injury and violence prevention practitioners in North Carolina. Each cycle of the IFNC Academy focuses on a timely topic affecting North Carolinians. Since 2014, the UNC Injury Prevention Research Center and the North Carolina Division of Public Health’s Injury and Violence Prevention Branch (IVPB) have been working to bring timely and critical training to the injury and violence prevention workforce in North Carolina to incorporate best practices, promising strategies, and innovative programming into their work.

2020 Academy Highlights

In 2020, the Injury-Free Academy is offering two programs on 1) Sharing Power with Communities and 2) Establishing Syringe Services Programs (a Harm Reduction strategy).

Sharing Power with Communities

The 2020 Injury-Free NC Academy on Sharing Power with Communities focuses on how to work with people who have lived experience of inequities and are directly impacted by the work of violence prevention and harm reduction.This academy is build as a continuing education program to hold space and build support for graduates of the Injury-Free NC Academies: Using a Shared Risk and Protective Factors Approach to Prevent Violence and Establishing Syringe Exchange Programs.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the content of the in-person sessions were adapted and will be delivered virtually over two webinars.
Session 1: May 19, 2020
This session will address:
  • The role of cultural humility and self-reflection in working with communities
  • Tools for building community power and stakeholder buy-in for our programs
Session 2: June 2020 (Exact dates will be announced soon)
  • Understanding how to center transgender and non-binary communities in our work
Both sessions will address:
  • Ways to center racial equity in our violence prevention and harm reduction work
  • Skill-sharing and learning across harm reduction and violence prevention practitioners

Establishing Syringe Services Programs

The Injury-Free NC Academy on Establishing Syringe Services Programs is offering our first virtual series on how to establish Syringe Services Programs (SSPs) in North Carolina. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have adapted the academy to an online platform.

From May 20 to June 24, we will offer a new virtual session each Wednesday that covers content from our in-person academy sessions. During this period, we will present three live webinars for participants to attend at the same time allowing opportunities for dialogue between participants and speakers. Learn more about the series, register, and view archived webinars here.

This Academy focuses on planning, establishing, and operating syringe services programs (SSPs) to support people who inject or otherwise use drugs.

Past Academies

In 2018, the Safe States Alliance published a case study highlighting North Carolina’s work using a shared risk and protective factors approach to address priority injury topics, including a spotlight on the Injury-Free NC Academy.

Read the case study.  

Upcoming Academies

Interested in attending the Academies in 2021? Our Academy on workplace policies and supports to prevent violence and promote well-being is now live! Review the application packet here to learn more and apply.