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2011

  • Idaho’s Awareness to Action Youth Suicide Prevention (AAYSP) project sponsored a review and update to Idaho’s Suicide Prevention Plan. Written in 2003, the current plan was outdated. ISU-IRH facilitated the rewrite in cooperation with the Idaho Council on Suicide Prevention and diverse advocates statewide. The new plan will guide suicide prevention efforts among all stakeholders in the years to come.
  • ISU-IRH produced the report Idaho Suicide Prevention Hotline: Analysis of Options for Decision Making to guide development of a suicide crisis hotline in Idaho. Idaho is the only state in the nation without a federally-certified hotline. Advocates continued work in 2011 to identify an organization and funding to operate an accredited, sustainable hotline.
  • ISU-IRH continued presenting gatekeeper training sessions based on Better Todays, Better Tomorrows for Children’s Mental Health at various locations throughout the state. Since 2000, more than 9,600 professionals, community partners, parents, youth, and advocates statewide have completed this best practice training. Under ISU-IRH’s Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act grant, trainings will continue into 2012.
  • ISU-IRH supported the creation of a sustainable cadre of QPR trainers statewide. ISU-IRH provided funds for individuals to participate in the QPR train-the-trainer curriculum, with the requirement that after training they offer regional QPR programs statewide through 2012.
  • The Idaho State University Institute of Rural Health (ISU-IRH) continued its outreach to schools through the distribution of SOS kits to middle schools and junior high schools. All schools were offered the curriculum and technical assistance to implement it.

2010

  • SPAN Idaho compiled Suicide Survivor Support Packets and distributed them to Idaho coroners at their annual training conference. ISU-IRH and SPAN Idaho joined the Council on Suicide Prevention and the VA Suicide Prevention Coordinator to co-present at the conference.
  • In collaboration with the Idaho State Department of Education and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s Division of Public Health, SPAN Idaho conducted seven well-attended roundtable discussions throughout Idaho, bringing together local school personnel, law enforcement personnel, staff from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s Children’s Mental Health program, and SPAN volunteers.
  • SPAN Idaho held its 10th Annual Suicide Prevention Conference in Boise in September featuring keynote speaker Dr. Thomas Joiner.
  • ISU-IRH offered academies across the state to enhance sustainable capacity in the areas of advocacy, suicide risk assessment, and social marketing. Shel Gross of Mental Health America Wisconsin was an invited speaker for the advocacy academy, providing a pre-conference workshop and breakout session at the Suicide Prevention Action Network (SPAN) Idaho conference in Boise in fall 2010. Technology was utilized to offer social marketing and risk assessment classes. Risk assessment will be a major focus in 2011 to provide mental health practitioners with assessment and treatment planning skills. Minimal training in these areas has been offered in Idaho’s colleges and universities.
  • In collaboration with the Idaho Council on Suicide Prevention and the Idaho Hospital Association, and with support from AAYSP at ISU-IRH, SPAN Idaho augmented and distributed recommended evaluation and triage guidelines developed by the national Suicide Prevention Resource Center and the Emergency Nurses Association to all emergency departments in Idaho. SPAN regional volunteers followed up distribution with phone calls to ensure receipt and to offer technical support.