Healthy Teen Minds in Winnebago, Outagamie & Calumet Counties

Project Description Narrative:

Advancing Behavioral Health Initiative Phase II

High rates of teen depression and suicide-related behaviors among youth in Calumet, Outagamie and Winnebago counties is a serious public health issue in the tri-county region. County-level Youth Risk Behavior Survey data indicate that area youth are attempting suicide at nearly twice the rate of the state and national average. Depression is the No. 1 risk factor for suicide. Currently, 24.6% of tri-county teens surveyed reported being sad or hopeless, a rate the this been slowly increasing for several years.

This project aims to reverse that trend, reducing the number of students in grades 9-12 who are at risk for or who are experiencing depression by 20% (from 24.6% to 19.7%) by June 2022 by:

• Improving the school climate by increasing social connectedness for students through building relationships with peers and trusted adults
• Implementing programs aimed at developing healthy coping skills from an early age as well as creating an environment that supports healthy sleep among adolescents
• Screening for signs and symptoms of mental health challenges as a necessary step to address and improve mental health by identifying those who have or are at risk for having depression and also referring them to services
• Connecting youth who have or are at risk for having depression to mental health services in the community by increasing use of help-seeking resources and by developing a local, user-friendly service navigation website

This project is part of AHW's Advancing Behavioral Health Initiative, an eight-year, $20 million initiative bringing together 10 community coalitions from across Wisconsin to address pressing mental health needs within their communities. The initiative is designed in three phases, providing a funded planning year, a five-year implementation period, and a two-year sustainable transformation phase.