Toledo Community Foundation Proposal

The Toledo Community Foundation is a major contributor in serving the Toledo region, Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan, emphasizing support in the greater Toledo area since 1973. The Foundation has actively worked with individuals, families, and business to create community improvements for future generations. Over the years, Toledo Community Foundation has played a critical role in addressing community issues and has provided their professional staffs knowledge and expertise to the community. The Next Generation Program is committed to improving high school students mental health in Lucas County area. Next Generation is a non- profit, charitable organization seeking grant funding to support programmatic expenses. Our mission is to help reduce the rate of suicide among teens by giving them the feeling of hope and security in a safe environment by providing help in schools and to parents of mental health awareness. In order to accomplish this mission, the program will collaborate with educational professionals, parents, students, and mental health workers. Our new program is designed to meet the emerging needs of suicide prevention in the Toledo area. With help from the Toledo Community Foundation, we can enrich the quality of life for individuals and families.

DUE DATE FOR APPLICATION: September 15, 2016

Name of Organization: Next Generation
Project Location: Toledo Public High Schools (Scott, Waite, Woodward)

Contact Persons:

Nora Alrubaie Sirena Mason Taylor Walton Nora Alrubaie Sirena Mason Taylor WaltonUniversity of Toledo University of Toledo University of Toledo(734) 833-8224 (419) 360-2243(419)205-3235Noraal08@gmail.com Sirena.Mason@rockets.utoledo.edu TaylorW@gmail.com

Purpose and NeedsSuicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States with 41,149 fatalities recorded in 2013 (CDC, 2013). Among 10-24 year olds, suicide is the second leading cause of death (CDC, 2013). More individuals in this age group die from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, birth defects, stroke, AIDS, pneumonia, influenza and chronic lung disease combined (The Jason Foundation, 2016). According to Lucas County Community Health Assessment 2013/2014, 26 percent of Ohio youth reported feeling so sad or hopeless every day for two weeks or more in a row that they stopped doing their usual activities, compared to 28 percent of youth in Lucas County (Healthy Lucas County, 2014). In 2013/14, 16 percent of Lucas County 7th-12th grade youth had seriously considered attempting suicide and 7 percent actually attempted suicide (Healthy Lucas County, 2014). For every 7th-12th grader who attempts suicide, there is roughly 3 times as many youth considering committing suicide. Nearly 75% of all suicides give some warning of their intention to friends or family (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 2016). It is reported that four out of five teens who attempt suicide give clear warning signs (The Jason Foundation, 2016). By teaching individuals the warning signs of suicide and how to seek help, countless lives could be saved.
Our program, Next Generation, would address the need for suicide prevention by educating high school students about the warning signs of suicide and depression, while providing information on how to seek help for themselves or their peers. Our program would also provide a mental health social worker and provide free online training for staff members at schools where our program is implemented. According to Preventing Suicide: A Toolkit for High Schools (2012), the best approaches to implementing suicide prevention strategies are in the school environment, through family outreach, and by providing appropriate resources to students. All three approaches would be addressed in our program through after school educational sessions, providing take-home materials for parents, and through the availability of our mental health social worker and trained staff working at the schools. The goal of our program is to enable students to help their peers or to seek help for themselves by educating about the warning signs of suicide, while establishing a safe environment and resources within the schools.With this grant, Next Generation would be able to provide a mental health social worker for participating high schools, as well as, provide incentives to priority school personnel who undergo suicide prevention training. We wish to build a positive and supportive community in the schools where students feel safe talking with their peers and teachers about mental health issues. The Next Generation program aligns with the Toledo Community Foundations mission by promoting and creating a safe environment, enabling families to develop necessary skills and resources, and fostering the development of responsible young people

Next Generation Program ObjectivesGoal: Reduce the rate of suicide among Toledo Public teens in Scott, Waite, and Woodward High School by giving them the feeling of hope and security in a safe environment by providing help in schools and to parents of mental health awareness.Prior to the start of the program, April 3, 2017, at least five academic professionals at each of the three target high schools will participate in the free online training available by Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide.

By the end of the project, April 28, 2017, students who participated in the project will have improved their mental health coping strategies by 15 percent, as indicated by section C of the pre and post-survey.

By the end of the project, April 28, 2017, students who participated in the project will have increased their knowledge of suicide prevention by 15 percent, as indicated in section B of the pre and post-survey.

By the end of the project, April 28, 2017, 20 percent of freshmen at each targeted high school will have completed all four intervention sessions.

In five years, April 2022, Next Generation will be implemented at all TPS high schools.

By April 2026, the percent of youth in Lucas County thinking about suicide will have decreased to 13 percent from 16.3 percent in 2010, according to the Lucas County Youth Survey.

Implementation

The Next Generation program is intended to target 9th graders in three Toledo Public Schools, which are Waite high school, Woodward high school, and Scott high school. The program will be overseen by a mental health social worker, program project manager, and trained school personnel. The program project manager must possess at least a bachelor degree in psychology, public health, social work or a related field. The mental health social worker must possess a bachelor degree in social work. School personnel, such as counselors, teachers, resource officers and principals, will be recruited to undergo online suicide prevention training. Unpaid student interns from the field of social work or public health will be used to evaluate and analyze the pre and post-surveys. The program is four weeks long with one hour long session each week, starting April 3rd, 2017. The program will be evaluated on a basis of pre-and-post survey analysis, which will be passed out in the first session and last session to monitor knowledge and attitude changes. The sessions will be held after school and parents must give permission for their child to attend. Each session will start with a brief PowerPoint taught by our mental health social worker, followed by interactive activities. During the first session, the students will complete the pre-survey before learning about the warning signs of suicides. The second week will discuss more suicide prevention and will educate the students on resources available to them, such as suicide hotlines, counseling services, and more. The third week will focus on how to cope with stress and depression. For the final session, students will participate in role playing activities before ending with the post-survey. As mentioned in the purpose section, the program is envisioned to increase early identification of mental health needs, and increase awareness of suicide prevention. Thus, the program demonstrates to students how to recognize depression symptoms in themselves and others, how to recognize the warning signs of suicide, and makes resources available for suicide prevention and management.

EvaluationA summative evaluation will be conducted to ensure that program objectives were met. The program will utilize a survey, administered prior to the program and again during the final week of the intervention. By comparing the data from the pre-survey and post-survey, determinations can be made about the effectiveness of the program. The survey will collect data on the student's knowledge of the warning signs of suicide, risk factors for suicide, myths about suicide and how to help someone at risk of suicide. The survey will also have a section of questions focused on evaluating the mental health status of the students. The close-ended questions from the knowledge-based sections of the survey will be graded on a percentage scale. Open-ended questions will be used in addition to the close-ended questions to gauge a deeper level of understanding about the issues. The mental health status section will consist of a Likert scale. An overall improvement of 15% on the knowledge sections of the survey would be indicative of a substantial increase in knowledge about the various suicide topics due to the program. Each Likert item will be analyzed separately, as well as, combined into a summative scale.

SustainabilityThe Next Generation program aims to begin April 3, 2017, once a week for a total of 4 weeks as an after school intervention at Scott, Waite, and Woodward high schools. The program will be sustained by engaging a mental health social worker and interns to cooperate, present available resources, and analyze data. The organization is focusing on attracting high school freshmen students to participate in a pre and post survey to evaluate how much students know about depression and suicide and how beneficial the program was to students. Continuous incentivized suicide prevention training will focus on training teachers to be able to identify students with suicidal behaviors and to evaluate mental performance. Furthermore, the program will emphasize how to increase knowledge and awareness of suicide risk factors, prevention, and will provide resources available in Toledo, Ohio such as National Alliance of Mental Illness,(NAMI), Rescue Mental Health Services, and Harbor Behavioral Health. These resources provide a collection of assessments, support group counseling and crisis stabilization, and treatment options for a wide range of behavioral issues. The mental health social worker, program project manager, and interns are well trained to provide information about the suicide awareness and prevention to educate students, parents and teachers about suicide awareness.With progression of the program, our goal is to recruit more teachers, interns and volunteers each year while increasing our student participation. After completion of sessions, a post- program survey will be conducted to evaluate the student's attitude and knowledge regarding suicide. The program project manager will be applying for additional grants and in-kind donations to be able to finance the program costs and securing funds for future years. It will require $6,300 a year to maintain the project. The program project manager will coordinate an annual luncheon in the community to raise money to support cost of supplies, teacher training, and activities for the program. The luncheon fundraiser ticket cost will benefit Next Generation expenses. During the fundraiser a silent auction will be conducted with the help of interns, in which proceeds will contribute to the programs funds. In 5 years, the goal is to have all TPS high schools participating in the Next Generation program. The program envisions teaching suicide prevention to the next generation in Toledo, Ohio.

References

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. (2016). Risk Factors and Warning Signs. Retrieved February 01, 2016, from http://afsp.org/about-suicide/risk-factors-and-warning-signs/Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013). Leading Causes of Death. Retrieved February 01, 2016, from http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htmHealthy Lucas County (2014). Lucas County Community Health Assessment 2013/2014. Retrieved January 25, 2016, from http://www.hcno.org/pdf/counties/LucasCounty2014HealthAssessment.pdfThe Jason Foundation. (2016). Youth Suicide Statistics - Parent Resource Program. Retrieved April 12, 2016, from http://jasonfoundation.com/prp/facts/youth-suicide-statistics/Kim, Y., & Leventhal, B. (2008). Bullying and suicide: A review. International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 20(2), 13354Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Preventing Suicide: A Toolkit for High Schools. HHS Publication No. SMA-12-4669.Rockville, MD Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2012

BudgetTotal ExpendituresIn Kind Funding Requested

Personnel

Program Project Manager:This individual will oversee all operations and be responsible for recruiting faculty for training from each school and maintaining relationships with the three schools affiliated with the program. The program project manager must oversee the work of the mental health worker, as well as work to secure further grant funding and in kind donations.The program project manager will be compensated for 4 months of part time work with a salary of $4,200$4,200$4,200

Mental Health Social Worker:One mental health social worker will be hired to perform all interventions and provide additional office hours at each school over the course of the intervention. They will be compensated for an estimated 30 hours over the course of the one month implementation of the program.$750$750

Trained School Personnel: Five educators, counselors, or other faculty members at each school will be paid a $50 incentive to take a free online suicide prevention training program. All educators are welcome to take the free online training, though funds will only be provide for five at each institution, with counselors, resource officers and principals being top priority.$750$750

Supply Items

Paper, certifications, promotional materials, t-shirts$600$600

Snacks$200$200

TOTAL$6,500$200$6,300

Applicant: Next Generation