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Mental Health Matters - Chippewa & Eau Claire Counties

In Wisconsin’s Chippewa Valley, data from the 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) revealed that approximately 30% (3,600) of public middle and high school students were at risk for depression. Suicide numbers were also increasing and rates of hospitalization due to self-injury were higher than the state average. With a clear health priority identified, leaders from over 20 partnering organizations across Chippewa and Eau Claire counties formed the coalition, Mental Health Matters (MHM), to improve youth mental health in the region.
Mental Health Matters

Impact

Over the last eight years, the coalition has worked to implement research-based strategies to build protective factors - social connections, caring relationships, and meaningful participation - that lead to resilience and positive youth mental health in general. At the core of these strategies was the idea that in order to treat youth depression at scale, one must build foundational practices that focus on protective factors rather than treating risk factors alone. To do so, MHM gathered leaders from local government entities, educational bodies, healthcare, community-based, and faith-based organizations representing multiple member agencies.

The coalition’s broad reach was strategic, allowing it to develop workgroups that capitalized on each sector’s expertise and unique experiences working directly with youth to drive strategic transformation of policy and systems to improve youth behavioral health outcomes in the region. By taking a collective impact approach, MHM partners established a high level of trust among one another under a common agenda, aligned efforts, and shared measures to track progress. Direction from a team who served as the coalition’s backbone aligned and coordinated initiatives among various workgroups with specific project roles and responsibilities in a way that integrated their work to maximize end results.

Education on ACEs and Youth Resilience

Developed an educational workshop on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) to raise awareness of the relationship between stressful life events and negative health outcomes, and the role of resiliency and building protective factors to offset the impact of ACEs. The coalition shared tools, resources, and everyday actions to youth-serving professionals across sectors that support youth in overcoming adversity and other life challenges.

Education on Mindfulness

Created a school mindfulness training program that involved six sessions of training for staff, three-to-four workshops to develop mindfulness strategies tailored to the school’s needs, as well as three consulting sessions to support implementation of those strategies.

Data

Aided in community-decision making for policy change through the development of a county-level youth mental health data report and scorecard based on information from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS).

Steering Committee Members

Government

  • Eau Claire Police Department
  • Chippewa County Department of Human Services
  • Eau Claire County Department of Human Services
  • Chippewa County Department of Public Health
  • Eau Claire City-County Health Department

Education

  • Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District
  • Eau Claire Area School District

Healthcare

  • Marshfield Clinic Health System
  • HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital
  • HSHS St. Joseph's Hospital
  • Mayo Clinic Health System
  • Security Health Plan

Community and Faith-based Organizations

  • United Way of the Greater Chippewa Valley
  • Chippewa Health Improvement Partnership
  • Eau Claire Health Alliance
  • Joining our Neighbors Advancing Hope (JONAH)

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