Impact Newsletter August 2022 |
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Welcome Back!
We hope you had a restful and relaxing summer break, spending time to recharge your batteries. OS, Inc. is so excited to be back and in full swing for the 2022-2023 school year. This is the perfect opportunity for you and your Team to start off the year strong: develop your Action Team plans, involve student leaders by giving them a seat at the table to share their voice, and take a step back to be inspired by their passion and let that drive your work this year.
Below you will find upcoming OS, Inc. training opportunities and events - PLEASE share these with your student leaders. We have new incredible speakers this year and would love to wow them with a powerful audience in our sessions. You will also find registration information for our annual 5K fun run/walk event, and more!
Riley & Ashley
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Suicide Prevention Week Trainings |
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Being A Trusted Peer & Mental Health Leader Training |
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September 6
6:00PM to 7:00PM CST (Virtual)
FREE Session
Audience: Youth & Adult Mentors
Teens will gain confidence and skills to help a friend who might be facing a mental health challenge or crisis. They will learn facts about depression, what do to if they're worried about a friend, and how to have supportive conversations with friends. Teens will also learn how to spread awareness and education about mental health in their school. They will also gain access to Awareness into Action Activities to promote positivity and remind their peers that they are not alone.
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Best Practices: 988 Crisis Response Training |
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September 8
10:00AM to 11:00AM CST (Virtual)
FREE Session
Audience: Adult Mentors
Newly implemented nation-wide 988 crisis line. Attendees will garner a deep understanding of the components that make up a crisis system beyond the initial 988 contact. This engaging session will also demonstrate how community collaboration can support crisis system development and how to successfully implement braided funding mechanisms that sustainably support crisis system capacity.
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October 20
4:00PM to 6:00PM CST (In-Person)
Schaumburg High School
(1100 W Schaumburg Rd, Schaumburg)
Join us for the first in-person regional training of the 2022-2023 school year. We hope you can use this training as an opportunity for your leaders to participate in new, fun team building activities before they begin the hard work in preparing to facilitate back at your respective Team events.
This training session has a limited number of attendees. If you are interested in registering a group or your whole Team, please contact Riley Cleary ASAP to reserve your spots.
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Virtual 5K Registration Open! |
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Join us for our annual Virtual 5K fun walk/run to support Operation Snowball, Inc. Walk or run your 5K to support youth prevention, leadership, and action plans that create a healthier community! |
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Date: Saturday, October 8, 2022
Time: Complete between 7:00am-12:00pm
Registration Fee: $15
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If you are new to our Virtual 5K, this is how it works:
- Register for your spot.
- Complete the race on Saturday, October 8 between 7:00AM and 12:00PM CST.
- Track your distance and finish time with any fitness device or app.
- This race is based on the honor system and we ask that you share your results with us on social media, but there is no formal submission process for your time and distance. You can do the event alone, with family/friends, or with your OS Team.
- We will send out race items (shirts & bibs number) the week of the race. Shirts will arrive by 5K day!
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*If you are interested in registering a group please contact Riley Cleary
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The Cebrin Goodman Teen Institute successfully held their summer conference in-person at Eastern Illinois University, July 17 – 21. The week featured an incredible roundup of keynotes, workshops, small group skill building, action planning, large group team building and much more!
CGTI was excited to host youth and adults from over 24 different schools/agencies, and we are so proud to share that 20 of those were Operation Snowball Teams. Teams and individuals spent time throughout the week creating plans for prevention and positive change to bring back to their communities. These plans include events and activities such as hosting trainings during September’s Suicide Prevention Month, holding safe and substance-free activities during school activities such as Homecoming and Prom, and promoting prevention education throughout the community through social media and paper campaigns.
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CGTI looks forward to seeing what all Action Teams accomplish throughout the first semester of the school year and reuniting again at the Mid-Year winter conference January 14 – 1pm 5, 2023! |
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The entire month of September is Suicide Prevention Month. Throughout this month you'll see multiple organizations focus on ending the stigma surrounding suicide, promoting awareness, sharing resources and more.
The calendar also acknowledges the week surrounding September 4 as National Suicide Prevention Week with September 10 always being observed as World Suicide Prevention Day. Incorporating these dates into your action plan can help bolster the resources available at one given time, provide more comfort and support to those who need it and increase the knowledge spread.
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October Prevention Activities |
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National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month takes place each October, with the purpose of promoting prevention, respect, kindness, inclusion, friendship and more throughout. One of the biggest organizations to honor and celebrate this is STOMP Out Bullying.
There are so many ways that teams and individuals can celebrate and honor bullying prevention! The purpose of this toolkit is to provide teams and individuals with ideas, examples and pre-made content that can be used for this purpose!
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Bring tMHFA to Your Snowball Team |
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We are excited to share that we are currently training the 10th grade class of one of our Snowball Teams, Stagg High School.
With your OS membership we offer a discount to bring tMHFA to your youth leaders.
Things to Note:
- 30 students max per training group.
- We can train up to 150 students at a time.
- Implemented in three 75 minute sessions or six 45 minute sessions.
- 100% OS Adults must be Youth MHFA certified.
- Virtual sessions will be offered soon!
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What is tMHFA?
The teen MHFA course teaches high school students how to provide mental health first aid to their friends. The course was developed in response to research indicating that young people have a preference for sharing problems with peers.
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In tMHFA, teens learn about the following:
- Anxiety disorders
- Depressive disorders
- Eating disorders
- Alcohol and other drug use disorders
- Psychotic disorders
Mental health crisis situations covered in tMHFA are:
- Having thoughts of suicide
- Threatening violence or harm to others
- Engaging in self-injury
- Being very intoxicated on alcohol or other drugs
- Experiencing a traumatic event such as bullying, abuse, or assault
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For inquiries and scheduling requests please contact Riley Cleary.
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We Want to Hear From You! |
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Operation Snowball, Inc. wants to continue to highlight OS Teams each month in our newsletter. Please continue to share with us the amazing work that you are doing in your schools and communities.
This may mean sharing photos of your events or weekly meetings, graphics and videos your group has created for your prevention programming, maybe it is a write-up from one of your students reflecting on a project you all completed. In other words, we want to celebrate YOU!
Be proud of all you have accomplished!
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MISSION STATEMENT: Operation Snowball is an international youth program that empowers student leaders through prevention education, community advocacy, and leadership development to a create positive impact.
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937 South Second Street | Springfield, IL 62704
217.528.7335 ext. 27
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