May 2022 Call to Action

The monthly newsletter of the Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network

Hi everyone! We hope you all are enjoying the sunny weather we have been having statewide. This Mental Health Awareness Month, we celebrate and applaud all the community partners we work with who work tirelessly to provide excellent care & break the stigma around sharing mental health struggles. We also applaud all the students and teachers statewide who have worked hard all year and are in the final stretches of the school year. Summer is right around the corner! Our staff has enjoyed traveling to conferences around Tennessee and nationwide lately, and we are now getting to work planning our next upcoming events. Stay tuned for more info!

-Misty

In this issue

Advisory Council meeting details

New hire announcement

QPR instructor landing page

Good Behavior Game highlight

and more!

We have had a BUSY month! Our staff has been traveling even more over the last few weeks, this time to the American Association of Suicidology's 2022 conference in Chicago.

Spring has sprung in Tennessee, and our staff & volunteers have been out and about promoting suicide prevention all over the state. We love seeing the creative ways the message of suicide prevention is being spread to Tennesseans!

Northeast Region intern Chesnee Lawson and volunteer Makayla Ratcliffe, dressed as Snow White and the Evil Queen, at Kid Power 2022, a National Children's Mental Health Month event in Elizabethton

Northwest Regional Director Emily Oswald and a team of regional volunteers with the parade float they created, making its way to parades & festivals across the region

Members of the newly formed Scott County Suicide Prevention Task Force tabling in creative ways & spaces

Scenes from the East Region's Unfiltered Art & Fashion Show

Our next Advisory Council meeting will be held June 1 & 2 at the Drury Inn & Suites in Franklin.

Another email from us with meeting times, documents, agenda, and more will be sent out this week, so be on the lookout for more details!

Questions? Email tspn@tspn.org.

This month we said farewell to our Mid-Cumberland Regional Director, Bryan Flanery.

From Bryan:

"It has been an honor to serve Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network as the Mid-Cumberland Regional Director. I'll be transitioning to the Military Relations Coordinator for REBOOT Recovery. If there's anything I can do to support what you're doing, or your organization's mission, please feel free to reach out to me at bryan@rebootrecovery.com."

We will miss Bryan, but we wish him all the best on his new endeavors!

TSPN is excited to welcome staff member Joanne Perley to the team. Joanne serves as TSPN's Data & Communications Director.

A Tennessee native, Joanne has worked in suicide prevention for over ten years, most recently serving as the Assistant Director of Suicide Prevention at the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. Prior to working at TDMHSAS, Joanne worked at TSPN in a variety of roles for three years.

She is an alumna of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she obtained a Master’s in Public Health with a primary focus on health behavior with an approach to suicide prevention. Preceding her master’s degree, Joanne received her bachelor of arts at Emory University.

Welcome back, Joanne!

We have created a landing page for QPR instructors across the state to have access to updated presentations, documents, and more.

We're excited to provide our QPR instructors a comprehensive webpage that they can bookmark and reference when they need to access a document related to QPR training-- in both in-person and virtual formats.

The landing page also features population-specific resources, info on recertification, and more.

Click here to check it out!

Submissions are now being accepted for this year's Love Never Dies Memorial Quilt.

This statewide project began in 2006. The Memorial Quilt is made up of those we have lost to suicide who either lived in Tennessee or have family in Tennessee. This quilt is a beautiful way ensure that our loved ones live on.

There is no charge to submit your loved one to appear on the quilt. If interested in submitting, please email TSPN Emeritus member Karyl Chastain Beal at karylofcolumbia@cs.com.

We are excited to announce the implementation of the Good Behavior Game in K-2nd Grade classrooms in Tennessee.

The Good Behavior Game is and evidence-based classroom management strategy which is built around four core elements: classroom rules, team membership, monitoring behavior and positive reinforcement.

From TSPN's Good Behavior Game Director, Kearee Jackson:

“GBG is a classroom management strategy that has been designed to be integrated into elementary classrooms seamlessly. By utilizing this strategy, students will learn self-regulation and you will see a decrease in behaviors in the classroom. Also, students gain skills that will aid in their success as they get older. GBG is an evidence-based program that has shown reductions in suicidal thought and ideations, tobacco use and incarceration. We are committed to promoting the mental health and wellness of students across the state and with your help we can achieve this goal. I am always happy to meet and discuss GBG in more detail and work together to ensure students reach their fullest potential despite any odds they may face.”

Please join us for the Good Behavior Game Training in July 2022! If you have questions or need more information, please contact Kearee at kjackson@tspn.org.

TSPN's First Responder Suicide Prevention Task Force is thrilled to announce an upcoming conference entitled "Answering the Call" on October 24 & 25.

First responders across the state are invited to attend. Registration will be open soon for this event, so mark your calendars! If you or your organization are interested in sponsoring this event, email Task Force Co-Chair Mary Anne Christian at mchristian@tspn.org.