The Youth and Young Adult Health Program is joining the effort to prevent suicide attempts and deaths among adolescents. Currently, the Youth and Young Adult Health Program is working closely with the Wyoming Injury and Violence Prevention Program to support existing youth-focused suicide prevention projects.
There are two upcoming opportunities this summer for K-12 schools for youth suicide prevention and response:
Sources of Strength Train-the-Trainer (T4T)
- June 14-17, 2022: Buffalo, WY
- August 9-12, 2022: Laramie, WY
Registration opening soon.
T4T workshops are free to attend; schools will still need to meet an additional cost to implement Sources of Strength during the first two years of the program. A Sources of Strength T4T team consists of 2-3 people who are intending to or are already implementing Sources of Strength in at least one middle or high school in Wyoming. If additional seats are available, school employees interested in learning more about Sources of Strength are welcome to attend.
Connect Postvention Plan Development Workshop
- Late summer 2022 (exact dates TBD): Thermopolis, WY and Cheyenne, WY
Registration opening soon.
Postvention refers to activities that occur immediately after a death by suicide in a community. These activities are intended to both provide support and promote healing within the community, and to prevent future suicides in the same community. There are best practice guidelines to implement a suicide postvention plan.
A school district postvention team often overlaps with or is the same as a school or district crisis or behavioral intervention team. Effective suicide postvention is a team effort; therefore a district team planning to attend this training should include at least 3 and up to 6 school and district professionals who will lead the school’s response if and when a student dies by suicide. The first day of this two-day workshop is also open to community members who may support a school response, including but not limited to community mental health professionals, local law enforcement, and community faith leaders.
Contact Megan Selheim, megan.selheim@wyo.gov or Cathy Hoover, cathy.hoover@wyo.gov for more information on either of these opportunities.