Program Awareness and Reduction of Stigma

Promotion #1: 
Develop an outreach and marketing strategy to increase awareness of publicly and privately funded programs and services.
Address and reduce behavioral health stigma.

Sponsored by:

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Project Information

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The IBHC Program Awareness and Reduction of Stigma implementation team originally identified four action items during their team kickoff meeting. During implementation, they refined the action items and objectives to achievable initiatives.

• Integrate 211 and findhelpidaho.org as the central database of services available, facilitating a no wrong door approach.  The Department of Health and Welfare is partnering with United Way to develop a robust and definitive resource database through findhelpidaho.org.  Although 211 had effective resource database to meet its own needs, it is duplicative of the publicly available findhelpidaho.org database where nonprofits provide their own listings. Findhelpidaho.org is managed by United Way and prioritizes local listings.  DHW will embed an interface to findhelpidaho.org on its own 211 website and prioritize DHW programs. 

• Promote and provide behavioral health resources to schools, educators, and parents (education programs, professional development, and parental resources) This action item was originally two separate action items relating to providing resources to schools. (The original action items are provided below). After work stalled on the original action items, the team members determined to incorporate their objectives as part of the Idaho Community Resource Network project.  The new objectives are to provide the FindHelpIdaho.org widget on each school district website, then provide follow-up outreach and training to parents and educators on how to use it to access resources.
  
  • Implement the Sources of Strength Program in Idaho Middle and High Schools. This action item was closed after preliminary work.  Sources of Strength is highly effective school-based upstream prevention program is deployed Twin Falls school district, and this action item intended to replicate it to other schools around the state.  However, the State Department of Education and Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation already provide resources for schools that want to implement the program. One of the reasons the program is not more widely implemented is due to lack of school resources (namely personnel) dedicated to coordinate the program.
  • Education for educators, teachers, and parents. This action item intended to provide behavioral health resources to educators, teachers and parents to support children and students.  It also included an objective to create for-credit professional development courses for teachers. The implementation team for Primary Prevention and Protective Factors reviewed the scope of work and noted that professionally developed evidence-based resources already exist and recommended the implementation team not create new courses. The team members compiled a list of existing resources from various locations, including from the Idaho Department of Education website.  The list is in a Google document, and the team is looking place for it to live permanently.

• Recommend educational programs tailored for rural Idahoans to reduce stigma, increase awareness, and improve understanding of mental health. After recognizing the enormity of the work, this team determined to prioritize rural Idahoans.  They identified the modes of outreach as: 1) Multi-Channel Outreach – targeted media approach and outreach – statewide. 2) Storytelling and lived experience integration  to develop a path to normalized conversations and peer to peer programs. 3) Skills-based training – develop a plan to implement mental health training and workshops in each public health district; and 4) Service Awareness and Navigation – findhelpidaho, 211, Jannus – public awareness of mental health resource access, availability and referral pathways. 
  
  Without a specific budget, the team identified existing media assets on behavioral health, many from DHW’s 988 campaign.  They also looked for opportunities to support the existing 988 campaign.
  
  This team also pivoted to focus on putting resources on FindHelpIdaho.org – specifically the suicide prevention programs and the crisis centers.