Umatter -- Prevent Teen Suicide in New England

Hello all!  First and foremost, I'm really excited to be able to reach out to you and tell you a little about what we're doing with Umatter.  If you have any feedback or ideas you about the program, please feel free to get in touch with me at sara@healthandlearning.org. 

This project report is a submission to GlobalGiving's 2017 Fail Forward Contest, where organizations are asked to share a story of when they tried something new that didn't go as planned and how they learned from it. I want to talk about some mistakes we made last year and how it will inform this year’s Umatter YYA programming. 

Last year, we made a mistake by recruiting and registering more people than we had capacity to serve. We started the project out intending to serve 12 communities, but there was such interest, we ended up working with 19 communities.  While this speaks to the great need for Umatter YYA, it stretched our capacity and impacted our ability to effectively implement the program, so much so that we went over budget. Then we had to conserve funding at the end and we considered changing to a virtual Culmination Event, rather than doing the face-to-face event, much to the consternation of the school districts taking part in the program.  This created some disappointment for participating districts.

What we’ve learned this year is that we need to maintain a limit on the number of communities who participate.  We may be working in fewer communities, but we’ll work effectively and implement every part of the program effectively. 

You’ll be hearing more about Umatter and our other programs as we move forward with end of year fundraising, and with implementing the program itself in the 17 - 18 school year. 

Also, please read this great article about Umatter YYA implemented in South Dakota!

http://www.reformer.com/stories/suicide-prevention-program-helps-teens-in-south-dakota,521942

Links:

• A great article about Umatter YYA in South Dakota!