Volume 19| September 17, 2020
Your Weekly News & Updates
Please share!
Contact Dawn Fawcett- admin@wctcoalition.org
to be added to our email list.

Be well and stay safe.
COVID-19 Resources
Information & Resources to Help Communities #LiveUnited During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Click here to link to the 211 website where you will find COVID-19 related information and connect to resources. On this page you will find:
  • Signs and symptoms of Covid and how to protect yourself
  • Insurance coverage for testing and treatment
  • Access to financial assistance like unemployment insurance or tax relief
  • Connections to either home-delivered meals or food distribution
  • Transportation including medical
  • Housing assistance; utility assistance
  • Child Care
  • Emotional and family support
Regional Opioid Prevention Policy Workgroup Update
STATEWIDE OPIOID REPORTING DIRECTIVE (SWORD)
2020 ANNUAL REPORT

At our September 3rd Opioid Policy Workgroup Meeting, Stacey Durante, Health Program Associate, Office of Emergency Medical Services, CT Department of Public Health provided an overview of the State-Wide Opioid Reporting Directive (SWORD). SWORD was developed to provide near real-time overdose information to community-level public health and public safety for the purpose of collaboratively responding to those in need.

Since then, their annual report was published. The report details data from the first year of SWORD June 1, 2019-May 31, 2020. Here are some of the findings:
Click here to link to the full report







Save a Life

Our 9/22 training is full, but space is available for our 9/29 Narcan Training Webinar.

Register today!
Drug Free Schools Committee
Resources for Parents and Families
The CT Clearinghouse has an entire web page devoted to COVID 19 Resources Related to Behavioral Health.

We love these free downloadable children's books, especially Gizmo's Pawesome Guide to Mental Health. Check them out!
Mental Health
Support and connections are critical for those living with a serious mental illness (SMI). Learn from people with lived experience how their support systems and connections help them manage their major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. To learn more about serious mental illness, and the possibility of recovery, visit samhsa.gov/serious-mental-illness or call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) for 24/7 free and confidential information and treatment referral.

Watch this 60 second video with heart-felt and personal stories
from people living with mental illness
Region 5 Suicide Advisory Board Update








QPR Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Webinar Training.

Our class this Friday 9/18 is full, but we have openings for Friday the 25th. Please join us!

Suicide Prevention is everyone's business.
QPR Training Webinar for Treatment Providers
Free Webinar training opportunity for Primary care Providers

Recognizing and Responding to Suicide Risk in Primary Care Providers of Youth and Young Adults (RRSR-PC-Y)


  • a 75-minute facilitated slide presentation with video illustration
  • learn why and how routine suicide risk screening should and can be incorporated into routine medical visits
  • what constitutes appropriate risk management strategies and crisis response planning,
  • learn how to effectively document a suicide risk assessment in a medical chart, and how to work with parents of at-risk youth.

The training package includes:
a pocket assessment tool
reproducible patients handouts

1.5 CME credit hours are available.

Click here for registration link

If you’re feeling alone and struggling, you can reach out the CrisisText Line by texting CT to 741-741 or
the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
1-800-273-TALK.
The Region 5 Suicide Advisory Board meets quarterly.
The next meeting is September 23rd at 10:00 a.m.
For more information contact Western CT Coalition at 203-743-7741.
Please join us!
Prevention
For our business sector partners
You can become a Recovery Friendly Workplace with this toolkit.
It provides a new way of looking at and dealing with substance misuse that affects the workplace.

By engaging this toolkit, you are taking a proactive role in creating a healthier working environment, and are pursuing a set of positive outcomes that include:

• Greater employee productivity
• Healthier, happier employees
• A safer work environment
• Employee retention
• A positive workplace culture
Change the Script Resource Van
The Change the Script Resource Van was created to meet people where they are and provide them with substance use prevention and mental health-related books, pamphlets, posters, factsheets and more!

Click on the image to see the van schedule, or better yet,
book the van to come to your community!
Problem Gambling Awareness
Our Partners
‌
Behavioral Health Focused Podcasts
Our friends at the New Milford Youth Agency have recorded several podcasts this year with topics ranging from vaping to anxiety. You may even recognize some of the local prevention professionals they interviewed!

Click here to listen