This document discusses the development of a family guide for suicide prevention. It outlines challenges and rewards of involving families, principles of family-driven care, and how to put family-driven care into action through a family guide. The document also discusses evaluating a family guide by measuring outcomes like awareness, usefulness, knowledge and changes in attitudes towards suicide prevention.
1. A JOURNEY TO EMPOWER FAMILIES THE DEVELOPMENT AND PARTNERSHIP OF A FAMILY GUIDE Funding for this presentation was made possible (in part) by grant number 1U79SM058379-01 from SAMHSA. The views expressed in presentation materials do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or policies of CMHS, SAMHSA, or HHS; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Kim Gryglewicz, Debbie Ojeda, Meredith Elzy, Renee Brown, Melissa Witmeier, Krista Kutash, and Marc Karver.
Hello and welcome to our session: Journey to Empower Families
One of the first problems we encountered was, how do we get families involved? How do we make families feel more powerful? Why families? In general, mental health agencies have a difficult time involving families and including them in the decisions. Families also feel that they should not be involved and some do not believe that there is even a community problem. Some people in the mental health field believe families wouldn’t be involved in the efforts even if they try to include families. There seems to be a separation between mental health agencies and their communities. Collaboration is not only important to improve services but also change policies at the state and federal level. But that does not answer why families are powerful. One of the most successful story that came to mind, is Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Mother Against Drunk Driving started in 1980 after unfortunate events that touched two mothers’ lives, Candy Lighter and Cindy Lamb. The movement initially started in California with local volunteers. Throughout the years, families built themselves to be more empowering especially during policy decision making on the state, and eventually on a federal level.
So what did they accomplished? Here some of examples of success for these families: 1980- Inception & 1st Conference 1982- 100 Chapters 1983- 129 anti-drunk driving laws passed 1987- 1-800-GET-MADD was created 1994- Alcohol related deaths dropped to 30 years low 2004- .08 BAC as the illegal drunk driving limit in all states and 2010....30th year anniversary of MADD During the rally in 2010, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman James L. Oberstar said the following: “ Rarely, has a national movement had so dramatic and tangible effect on public conduct and public policy has MADD as done in just three short decades, you have tamed an epidemic of drunk driving, that in the 1980s was killing 30,000 people alone just alcohol and driving. Is now down to just under 11,000 fatalities a year. That is an extraordinary change of habits and conduct in public and state law“ This is a powerful statement about a grass-root organization where just two parent decided to take action. This is a prime example of families taking control. We believe that the same could be said about the mental health field
Brainstorm: What types of challenges have you faced in trying to work with families? Do you have any examples of times that your work with families has really paid off and you’ve seen positive results?
Sharing in decision making and responsibility for outcomes on individual and community levels. Informed with accurate and up-to-date information to allow them to set goals and make informed decisions. Family-run organizations engage in peer support activities; provide direction for decisions that impact funding for services, treatments, & supports; and advocate for families and youth to have a voice. Providers take the initiative to change their policies and practices to be less provider-driven and more family-driven. Administrators take family-driven practices and implement them at a point where services and supports are provided for youth and their families. Removing barriers and discrimination created by stigma. Communities and agencies celebrate cultural diversity and work to eliminate mental health disparities, while individuals continually advance their own cultural competency.
For first bullet point, go back to previous slide and touch on each guiding principle. For example, “Can family members become empowered partners through such a guide?” If the response is yes, “how?” If the response is no, “why not?”
Primary Goals: Step 1: Education & Awareness 1) Increase awareness about the prevalence of youth suicide in an effort to reduce stigma. 2) Educate family members about the warning signs of suicide and steps to take if they are concerned about a youth. 3) Complete source of national and community resources: the guide has 4 pages of resources. Step 2: Support 1) Ways to support youths at risk and promote resiliency (i.e., mentoring, talking to youths at risk, connecting them to services). 2) Supporting other families with youth at-risk. Step 3: Partnership 1) Helping caregivers partner with treatment providers if their youth is at-risk. 2) Helping caregivers partner with professionals who interact with their child(ren). Step 4: Advocacy 1) Getting involved in community efforts designed to reduce youth suicide. 2) Becoming a champion – leading youth suicide prevention efforts in the community.
“ We are doing two types of evaluation w/ the family guide. First is an evaluation of the family guide as a stand alone tool.” Stand Alone: Awareness – “ Usefulness – “ Meta-knowledge – “ Curriculum comparisons: Family guide w/ family guide curriculum; family guide w/ QPR curriculum; QPR curriculum w/ no family guide Design depends on which curriculum is delivered (i.e., QPR only is standard pre-post; curriculums with the family guide are pre-test and 1 week follow-up b/c we want to give people a chance to read the family guide) Outcomes: TPB constructs – looking for changes in attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intentions