CENTER FOR HEALTH AND LEARNING LTD

Vermont Department of Mental Health (DMH) and Vermont Agency of Education: CHL worked with DMH and AOE to continue to implement the SAMHSA AWARE grant with three school districts in Vermont, CHL provided coordination, training, workshops, and technical assistance to the three LEA regions on suicide prevention and protocol development through trainings, technical assistance, assessment and evaluation throughout the year. CHL offered three Umatter for Schools trainings for AWARE school and mental health agency staff to help create suicide safe schools in their respective districts. 89 staff were trained in this four-module series which develops a professionals understanding of suicide prevention awareness in schools, promotes suicide prevention protocols for school staff to follow with a student who may be struggles, and shares information about suicide prevention related curriculum that school staff can use with students to help them have the social and emotional skill set to manage stressors they may experience related to their or a friends mental health. CHL also worked with the AWARE project leadership and other project partners to better coordinate our collective efforts to make schools involved with the AWARE grant better prepared to meet the mental health needs of students and staff.

Vermont Agency of Education: Worked with the Vermont School Supervisory Unions and their Designated Mental Health Agencies to provide training on Umatter for suicide prevention to youth, families, schools and communities, increasing participants' knowledge of youth mental health, suicide risk factors, and trauma informed practices and developing and fostering positive interpersonal relationships with interagency partners, peers, families and local school staff. Training opportunities include: Umatter Awareness and Skills Training, and Umatter for Schools.

Vermont Department of Health Department of Substance Abuse Prevention (DSU): Provided logistical support for a multi-part training on Motivational Interviewing. 15 participants attended the training. Provided support to trainings related to intervention, treatment, recovery, and health equity skills. Designed and facilitated statewide professional development trainings for community-level prevention staff.

Vermont Department of Health: CHL administered a suicide prevention stakeholder survey and analyzed the results as a part of a large Comprehensive Suicide Prevention Grant. They developed a suicide prevention inventory and treatment guide, available on the CHL website. CHL also provided over 40 trainings to 917 people on suicide prevention and lethal means safety. CHL developed a comprehensive packet of information related to postvention, and conducted a number of trainings related to health equity.Vermont Department of Health CHL conducted a number of Umatter Suicide Prevention Awareness and Skills Training, and established a Youth Zero Suicide Academy and Community of Practice prioritizing 4 Vermont counties as a part of the Garrett Lee Smith Youth Suicide Prevention Grant. CHL also promoted lethal means safety as a public health strategy to schools and other youth-serving organizations.

Fanny Holt Ames & Edna Louise Holt Fund: Implemented final of a three-year Umatter Suicide Prevention program in the Bellows Falls, Vermont School District. Provided a focused set of professional development trainings, designed to promote mental health wellness and reduce suicide. This included a number of school personnel attending a training to develop and expand policies, protocols, and procedures around suicide. A web based family focused portal was updated.