Project Description Narrative:
Phase three of the southwestern Wisconsin coalition's Advancing Behavioral Health Initiative will focus on sustaining established activities related to acceptability, accessibility, and availability of mental health care through three strategies: 1) Establishing the coalition as an independent, self-governing entity. This includes establishing formal work commitments from leadership; creating clearly delineated purpose, internal governance, and operational structures and policies; and exploring various funding mechanisms to support a coordinator or 'backbone' agency and technology infrastructure. 2) Embedding trainings into established organizations as part of regular onboarding. Crisis intervention trainings and trauma-informed practices clearly fit within the missions of healthcare and law enforcement, but the coalition will expand them to community health workers, as well as ordinary membership associations and workplaces. 3) Supporting current and emergent programmatic work through new structures and technologies.
Modern Communities, an online event host, membership management tool, and communications resource, will connect those in regional workgroups and those working in counties into new regional communities of practice, providing a space for common learning and sharing ideas and challenges.
This phase-three plan includes other sustainability features intentionally designed to impact health and health equity in the long term. The plan creates a self-governing coalition responsible for its own financial future.
Community partners: Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) of Southwest Wisconsin, Avenues Counseling, LLC, Darlington Police Department, Farm Well Wisconsin, Green County Health Department, Gundersen Boscobel, Iowa County ADRC, Mental Health Matters of Lafayette County, Mineral Point School District, Modern Communities, Richland County UW-Extension, Senior Life Solutions at Richland Hospital, Southwest Health, Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board, SWCAP, Unified Community Services, UW-Extension Green and Lafayette County, UW-Platteville Student Counseling Services, Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation Southwestern Wisconsin