Mental Health United States Project #42528

Partnering With You to Prevent Suicide

by Center for Health & Learning

Project Report | Jun 24, 2022
There Are No Words

By Sara Haimowitz | Director of Development and Communications

The following is a letter from CHL's Executive Director, in response to the school shooting in Uvalde, TX, published in CHL's June Newsletter:

Dear Friends,

I am devastated to hear a report of yet another school shooting, marking the 27th school shooting this year.

There are no words.

It leaves us asking, "what can we at CHL do?" Prevention is core to our mission. Typically, we provide resources to move things upstream- to make them better. We commit to building out more concrete plans for lethal means safety. CHL also provides resources for postvention.

Friends and families of the victims are reeling from trauma. And students and staff who witness school shootings can also suffer from traumatic stress. Whether a shooting occurs in a community with high crime and violence or a historically safe and stable community, school shootings have lasting ramifications for each family and impact relationships among community members, including parents, the school, law enforcement, and local government.

Although times like these can breed feelings of helplessness, we can support one another. I encourage you to reach out to family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors to check in. And if you or someone you know needs support, you are not alone, and there is help. Here is a list of resources:

*The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24/7 at 800-273-8255.

*Dial 2-1-1 to find mental health services in your area.

*Vermont peer Support Line – call or text 833-888-2557.

*InvestEAP offers 24/7 short-term counseling and referral to all state employees and their household members. If you need support on anything, please call (888) 834-2830 or visit Invest EAP Organization Password: "vteap"

*The National Child Traumatic Stress Network's Responding to a School Crisis webpage provides resources for parents and caregivers, youth, and schools, including individualized guidelines for key school personnel to respond to school crises. The page also provides access to psychological first aid for schools and the 3 Rs of school crises and disasters.

*The National Resource Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention's Trauma, Violence and School Shooting webpage provides resources for parents, service providers, and educators who work with youth who are experiencing or have experienced trauma.

*National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (NCSSLE) Resilience Resources webpage provides two resources on resilience. "Bolstering Resilience in Students: Teachers as Protective Factors" provides an overview of research on student resilience, particularly teachers' roles in creating an environment where students can develop the ability to overcome challenges. The webpage also reviews protective factors strategies teachers can employ to create environments that foster resilience in students. "Adolescent Health Highlight — Positive Mental Health: Resilience" presents research findings on characteristics that are associated with resilience, describes program strategies that promote resilience, discusses links between resilience and avoidance of risk-taking behaviors, and provides helpful resources.

Again, there are no words. But CHL is committed to being a resource for prevention work and to providing access to resources in a crisis.

Thank you,

JoEllen Tarallo, Ed.D., MCHES

Links:

Read CHL's May Newsletter!

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Feb 25, 2022
CHL and Rutland Partners complete a three-year project

By Sara Haimowitz | Director of Development and Communications

CHL has completed 3-year project funded by the Bowse Health Trust: the Rutland Suicide Safer Care Project–with Rutland Regional Medical Center (RRMC), Community Health Centers of the Rutland Region (CHCRR), and Rutland Mental Health/Community Care Network. Partners worked successfully to keep the project goals and objectives moving forward across the three years, two of which were directly impacted by COVID.

CHL provided project management and technical assistance to project partners to help them develop internal Zero Suicide systems and to communicate across organizations to improve care coordination for people struggling with suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The grant supported partner participation in Umatter® Gatekeeper, Introduction to Zero Suicide, CAMS (Collaborative Assessment of Suicidality), CALM (Counseling on Access to Lethal Means), CSSRS (Columbia Suicide Severity Risk Scale), and ASQ (Ask Suicide Questions) trainings. Over the course of 3 years, over 250 staff were trained.

Through the course of this three-year project, there were many obstacles that could have derailed it But with project management support from CHL and committed efforts from partners, the now completed project has led to real improvements in suicide care in the region. Connections between the three partners have been strengthened and consistent communication, the use of similar evidence-based practices and tools, and a greater understanding of best practices have led to better outcomes for people struggling with suicidal ideation or behaviors. As a result of the grant, CHCRR, RMH, and RRMC now have suicide-safe protocols and procedures in place and Electronic Health Records (EHRs) have appropriate workflows to help monitor and track clients and patients with suicidal support needs. This is a critical step towards effective management of people struggling with suicidality, and a key component to avoiding people ‘falling through the cracks of care. The vision for the future for health outcomes for people struggling with suicide in the Rutland region is brighter now due to the efforts of the Zero Suicide committee leadership and all staff at RMH, RRMC, and CHCRR.

The Bowse Suicide Safer Care project is now an example of the success that can come when partners across the health care system partner to reduce barriers to accessing suicide safe care by identifying system gaps and opportunities, building infrastructure for a collaborative, integrated system of care, and improving knowledge and skills among behavioral health providers, primary care practitioners, and hospital inpatient and Emergency Departments.

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Oct 28, 2021
October is Health Literacy Month

By Sara Haimowitz | Director of Development

October is Health Literacy Month!

Health Literacy More Important than Ever to Address Students in Crisis

October is recognized for Health Literacy Month -- a time when those organizations vested in the health and well-being of children, youth, young adults and adults can work collaboratively to integrate and expand the mission of health education. This promotes a better understanding of the role of health education, more important now than ever as schools and communities struggle to respond to the rise of challenging “misbehaviors” in school and community settings resulting from the stresses and strains of the pandemic. The importance of positive school environments and connections, supporting a culture of physical, mental, emotional, social and environmental health has never been more apparent.

Most states have health education laws that promote some kind of continuous instructional approach to teaching the concepts and skills children, youth, and young adults need to grow into healthy adults and citizens. Health education teaches critical skills that students need to communicate, cope, make decisions, solve problems, seek help, and advocate for others. Health education produces health literacy --the ability to find, understand, and use information and services for health-related decisions. We encourage schools and communities, as they consider social emotional health and other ways of responding to student needs, to focus on comprehensive health education and put effort into developing a continuous approach to skills building for health education and health literacy. CHL has a longstanding relationship with Educational Technology Resources (ETR), producers of science, research and evidence based curriculum resources. For more information, please see their HealthSmart curriculum and 2021 Health Promotioncatalog. You can check out a digital version online or request your very own print copy to explore new and trusted health education materials.

If you would like support for your health education program and to consider a comprehensive curricular and environmental approach to health education and social emotional learning (SEL), please email: info@healthandlearning.org.

And please continue to support our work!

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