Year 3
January 15, 2022 - January 14, 2023
Overview
PROGRAM GOALS
GFOL presented at the Granite-Obayashi Construction Safety Week
in May 2022.
GFOL participated in the Governor's Parade of Lights in December 2022.
PROGRAM STRENGTHS
In its third year, the GFOL made progress towards the goals for the grant. Significant strengths include continuing partnerships with various community organizations and government agencies to recruit and train individuals as natural supports and for workforce development. GFOL made significant progress toward achieving its goal of training natural supports and direct service providers for workforce development during 2022.
The partnership with UOG resulted in the award of 2 fellows in Year 3 who will engage in research to expand data on individuals with lived experiences. A call for participants in this research was released and is expected to continue into Year 4.
In Year 3, The ZSF Implementation Team received training in the Zero Suicide Framework. In addition, the GFOL team created the Heroes for Zero program to deliver the Workforce Survey. The survey received a 70% response rate. GFOL has plans for creating and disseminating promotional materials for the ZSF for GBHWC employees in Year 4.
GBHWC saw continued success providing a critical service for individuals in need of immediate assistance locally through the NSPL in the first half of the year and through the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This is evident from the 2087 individuals served through the NSPL and 988 during this review period. GFOL also successfully promoted the Lifeline with an audience reach of 395,119.
Additionally, the GFOL’s team should be commended for their strong leadership and committed staff that are working to achieve each of the year’s goals. This is evident by the significant overall progress in Year 3.
PROGRAM BARRIERS
In Year 3, the GFOL team shifted from offering training primarily online to more in person training. The team participated in more training opportunities with smaller groups, which also resulted in training numbers slightly below the benchmark for this review period. The limited availability of venues and the ability to accommodate larger groups were also barriers to meeting the target numbers for both natural support and workforce development. Although the shift to in person training presented a barrier in Year 3, organizations preferred in person training, and the relationships established through in person training is anticipated to yield better results with participants completing follow up surveys. To overcome this barrier, the GFOL team has developed marketing strategies focused on both online and in person training opportunities.
In Year 3, there was no progress made with the Suicide Prevention Task Force. In Year 2, the decision was made to create a Working Group under the PEACE Council. This group did not meet in Year 3 due to the lack of engagement and a shift in focus. Thus, no progress was made to meet the benchmark to conduct a needs assessment to review the current policies and protocols within youth-serving organizations.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The GFOL team continued to deliver training, conduct outreach activities, and implement the ZSF in Year 3 in adaptive and innovative ways. It is recommended that the team focus on targeting specific groups of people in the community to receive training as natural support and for workforce development to meet the target numbers for Year 4. These groups can be selected based on those best able to reach at-risk populations identified in the annual suicide data from the Suicide Epidemiological Outcomes Workgroup. Holding focus groups with community organizations and at-risk youth to identify these target groups is also recommended.
In addition, GFOL will need to maintain contact with individuals trained as natural supports or direct service staff to collect follow-up data in Year 4. Although more in person training may result in increased participation in the follow-up survey, consideration can be made for incentivizing the survey.
Additional effort needs to be made to identify programs and partner with organizations to continue screening at-risk youth to meet this benchmark.
As GFOL continues to carry out the goals outlined in the ZSF implementation plan, a plan for training GBHWC staff in ZSF should be developed and implemented in Year 4.
The Suicide Prevention Task Force Working Group is encouraged to hold regular meetings as well as work towards conducting a needs assessment to review the current policies and protocols within youth-serving organizations in Year 4. If the Working Group continues to be inactive, it is recommended that the GFOL team and community stakeholders meet to discuss the future of the Suicide Prevention Task Force. This can include hiring a consultant to lead a working group to develop a plan for establishing the Task Force. The Task Force is a crucial part of the overall strategic and implementation plan for suicide prevention, to provide guidance to establish an integrated system of care, and to conduct the needs assessment.
CONCLUSION
Overall, the GFOL team should be commended for their achievements in Year 3 of the grant project having met or exceeded many of the benchmarks. Significant progress has been made in all three of the project’s main goals. The team continues to be actively engaged with their community partners to increase awareness and break the stigma on suicide and mental health, generally. Plans for Year 4 have already been made for training, outreach, and additional data collection.
annual report
Annual Report_Y3.pdf