DECEMBER 2021 in PREVENTION

Here’s what’s happening in Prevention this month. Please note changes in the schedule and venues!

ALCOHOL TASK FORCE

Friday, December 3 – 11 AM - 12 PM

Online with Zoom and In Person at Pinedale Visitor Center.

RSVP REQUIRED FOR LUNCH!

Contact Trisha for ZOOM link.

SUICIDE PREVENTION TASK FORCE

Monday, December 6 – 7:30 - 8:30 AM

Online with Zoom and In person at Pinedale Public Health Office

Contact Trisha for ZOOM link.

SUBLETTE PREVENTION COALITION LUNCH

Thursday December 9 – 12 - 1 PM

Online with Zoom and In Person at St. Andrew’s in the Pines - lower level. RSVP REQUIRED FOR LUNCH!

Contact Trisha for ZOOM link.

So much to celebrate and be grateful for this past month! Here’s a recap. For a deeper dive please come to any of the meetings:

In Suicide Prevention: 113 Pinedale High School and Skyline Academy students were taught QPR in November. Big shout out and thank you to Jen Wilkinson for training PHS 10th graders in the health classes, and to Mardy Sleight, Bill Lehr, Matt Daniels, Melinda Bobo, and Cassie Crumpton for training all Skyline Academy students. This brings our total QPR Gatekeepers in Sublette County to 703. We have about 200 people to train to meet our goal of 10% of the county trained by July 2022.

One thing we use to measure progress in getting more mental health services to Sublette residents is Title 25 numbers. Title 25 is the emergency detention process used when someone is in crisis and is seen to be a danger to themselves or others. Title 25 numbers are down by half for 2021. We don’t really know for sure if we can attribute this decrease in Title 25 incidents to more counseling services in the county and making counseling free and accessible to everyone. There are other factors, like loss of population. Title 25 can be a traumatic process for all involved and a decrease in Title 25 incidents is a change in the right direction.

Also this past month: Sub 1 is working actively with Teton Behavior Therapy and High Country Behavioral Health to get telehealth counseling services to students and families who request services. Thank you to Karly Mahjanovich, Angie Murphy. John Snell, Kelsi Sluyter, Sarah Hixson, and Melinda Bobo for working hard to make this happen.

Janel Rinehart from the Boulder Roll is currently distributing coasters to all Sublette bars with a “mental health matters” message that includes the suicide prevention hotline phone number. Thank you to Janel, to Neville and Trish Burt and to Deanne Swain of D. Swain Design for their collaboration to make this happen.

Thank you to all those who participated in the International Survivors of Suicide Loss event Saturday November 20!

In Tobacco: Thank you to Peggy Weber for co-facilitating the quit tobacco class at High Country. Thanks also to Sarah Hixson and Aaron Preece for their willingness to hold the class and to all the participants who welcomed the process. Sublette is the only county in the state that has completed a quit tobacco class in a behavioral health setting. This is a big goal of our funders.

Thank you to Kari DeWitt of the Hospital District for helping us meet with providers and clinic staff to promote the quit classes.

In Drug Prevention: I am very grateful to our coalition members who are taking advantage of the excellent training opportunities we are receiving from the International Academy on the Science and Impacts of Cannabis (IASIC). These are one hour webinars by doctors who are doing a good job making a complex topic more understandable. It is our goal to get educated so that we can keep our law and policy makers informed. Thank you to Detective Toby Terrell of the SCSO for keeping us informed on the use of the drug disposal boxes. Sublette residents are safely disposing more than 200 lbs of prescription drugs per year, that’s a lot of pills out of our rivers!

In Alcohol prevention: Please like and share our posts this month promoting safe and moderate use of alcohol for the holidays.

I am grateful for the opportunity to work with each and everyone of you. May we all enjoy the blessings of health, community, and family this holiday season.

Trisha

Trisha Scott Prevention Coordinator Sublette County Public Health trisha.scott@wyo.gov 307-749-5004