Suicide Prevention Coalitions: The Backbone of Community Prevention Presented by Garra Lloyd-Lester, Associate Director, Suicide Prevention Center On September 13, 2016 at the Inaugural NYS Suicide Prevention Conference

By a show of hands… How many of you have had an opportunity to help someone struggling with thoughts of suicide How many of you have referred those individuals to other resources and supports in your community How many of you rely on others in your local community for information about current events and happenings related to suicide prevention How many of you relay on access to clinical or gatekeeper trainings outside of your own agency

Context For coalition development Community Matters “Communities play a critical role in suicide prevention. They can provide social support to vulnerable individuals and engage in follow-up care, fight stigma and support those bereaved by suicide.” Preventing Suicide: A Global Imperative, World Health Organization, 2014 “ The work of suicide prevention must occur at the community level, where human relationships breathe life into public policy” David Sacher,MD,PhD, Sixteenth Surgeon General The primary context and impetus for the Coalition Academy was from feedback offered by the Coalitions and county leaders at the twice a year Regional Coalition meetings

Coalition Work aligns with the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention Strategic Direction 1: Healthy and Empowered Individuals, Families, and Communities GOAL 1. Integrate and coordinate suicide prevention activities across multiple sectors and settings. GOAL 3. Increase knowledge of the factors that offer protection from suicidal behaviors and that promote wellness and recovery. Objective 3.1: Promote effective programs and practices that increase protection from suicide risk. Talk about this is why SPCNY has developed this opportunity Talk about purpose for new coalition development is to transition in to Academy

What is this thing called Coalition? A community coalition is a group of individuals representing many organizations who: Agree to work together to achieve a common goal. A coalition brings professional and grass-roots organizations from multiple sectors together, expands resources, focuses on issues of community concern, and achieves better results than any single group could achieve alone. A coalition involves an investment of time and resources A coalition may address a time limited issue or establish a more sustained collaboration that helps a community analyze its issues to identify and implement multiple strategies that lead to policy, social and environmental change.

Because no presentation is truly complete without at least one diagram…

What we set out to do What we ended up with Offer a means of technical assistance to local coalitions based on current research of what we know constitutes an effective coalition Encourage development of new coalitions in counties where they didn’t exist In exchange for participating in the technical assistance or new coalition development, provide seed money to those coalitions to further the work they are doing Development of the ‘Coalition Academy’, a series of structured in person and web-based workshops designed to strengthen and enhance the work being done while respecting the unique nature of each coalition Development of a process to support the development of a New Coalition or re-engage community members in a county where a coalition exists but has been struggling

Commitment to a Dynamic Process

Coalition Academy A strategic Planning Approach to Suicide Prevention- Topics included in this Module include; Using Data, Developing long term goals, Identifying Risk and Protective factors, Choosing Interventions, Designing a Logic model & Action plan, Tracking progress/measuring outcomes Anticipated Outcomes-understanding of minimal data necessary to inform a structured and intelligent decision making process, identifying how to access/find certain data sets, how to determine long term goals, identifying risk & risk protective factors in the community as a means of targeting prevention and intervention strategies designing and using a logic model & work plan, identifying process for measuring progress and outcomes Mission & Vision statement Development Anticipated outcome- assist coalitions in identifying a process to develop a mission and vision statement will be developed (or revised as warranted) Sustaining your coalition efforts- Membership recruitment and engagement, Use of workgroups, leadership, coalition FAQ’s Anticipated outcome-Key elements for coalitions that addresses recruitment, engagement, use of workgroups and how to intentionally plan for sustainability Development of a community postvention response team Anticipated outcome –help coalitions understand how they can play a role in exploring development of a coordinated postvention response within their community that meets local needs and conditions. Designing a community training needs strategy for gate keeper and clinical trainings Anticipated outcome-Helping coalitions link their strategic planning efforts to develop a proactive training strategy that reflects local workforce needs

The format for the day includes; New Coalition Development through use of a Key leader’s stakeholder meeting The format for the day includes; An overview of the work being done around the state on suicide prevention with a particular focus on how coalitions are being utilized. A review of support and assistance to communities by SPCNY will also be discussed A review of national, state and local level data having to do with suicide completions. Included in this will be a look at the anticipated economic cost and burden on the workplace and society at large. A SWOT analysis for the development of a coalition in our community Development of a preliminary Logic Model to identify what some of the local conditions are that may impact suicides in our community. This process will also lead to anticipated activities and projects that could be pursued moving forward Identify who else should be invited to subsequent mtgs and who will reach out to them Identify potential lead agency and leader(s) who are in a position to and will commit to continuing the effort. Identify next steps and set a confirmed next mtg date for group

Monroe County New Coalition Development was the launch in April 50 Key Stakeholders were in attendance

Progress Looking ahead Since May of this year SPCNY has facilitated at least 25 Strategic Planning workshops with Coalitions and done new coalition development with at least 4 counties Complete delivery of in person and web-based Coalition Academy modules Exploration of a format to offer ongoing web-based support to coalitions on topics of interest using content experts in the field Providing coalitions with consistent tools, strategies and processes to respond in the even of a completed suicide

NYS map with coalitions If you are attending the conference representing a coalition, please stand up NYS map with coalitions Since May of this year SPCNY has facilitated Strategic Planning for over 25 Coalitions and done new coalition development with 6 counties