Wisconsin – Mental Health America of Wisconsin
Prevent Suicide Wisconsin: Strengthening the Infrastructure will build on Wisconsins accomplishments to date by creating comprehensive local systems to prevent youth suicide, embedding suicide prevention training capacity into our child welfare and public education systems, enhancing suicide prevention skills for mental health clinicians, expanding efforts to reach high-risk populations, supporting local coalitions, and increasing public awareness.
The grant will support goals developed at a statewide planning summit in 2009 and the resulting strategic plan developed by our state-level steering committee: maintain strong state-level leadership; develop and strengthen local leadership; raise public awareness; continue training and technical assistance, and; enhance access to mental health services.
Comprehensive projects in three model communities will implement at least one evidence-based practice consistent with their local needs assessment, partner with a qualified treatment provider to address access to services, incorporate evidence-based lethal means restriction, conduct outreach to a high-risk population, incorporate more youth and family members, and mentor two neighboring communities that are developing their own coalitions.
Contracts with the agencies responsible for training child welfare and school staffs will develop their capacity to provide sustainable suicide prevention training and result in training and education to 2500 child welfare staffs and over 5000 school staffs.
450 clinicians will increase core competencies in suicide prevention through Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk and Recognizing and Responding to Suicide Risk. 1050 civilian clinicians will be educated about veteran mental health through three Wisconsin Warrior summits and at least five additional trainings each year of the grant.
Three targeted efforts will outreach to high-risk populations. 50 youth will participate in piloting of American Sign Language adaption of the SOS video and 50 community providers will participate in piloting the Culturally Affirmative Services for the Deaf/Hard of Hearing program. We will create culturally appropriate materials and trainings for the LGBT population, providing training to 100-150 youth and 50 people working with the LGBT population. We will support 50 youth in military families each year through Camp Yellow Ribbon and support an additional 80 youth and their families through Nurturing Skills for Military Families.
We will continue outreach and education to local coalitions through our website, webinar, teleconferences, materials and statewide conferences. We will train an additional 90 people as QPR trainers. We will update data related to youth suicide and reissue the Burden of Suicide Report with the updated data.
Mental Health America of Wisconsin will administer the grant on behalf of the State. We will partner with the Injury Research Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin as the evaluator, with a number of state agencies and a host of private partners.