Thursday, November 21, 2024
11/21/2024
Through this Native Connections Prevent Youth Suicide, Mental Illness, and Substance Misuse grant, Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness (WPHW) will be working with the Penobscot and Motahkomikuk tribal areas to increase awareness and prevention of youth suicide, mental health issues, and substance misuse. Across those two areas there are more than 1300 residents and over 10,000 living in close proximity to those tribal reservations. The people impacted by this grant have greater instances of youth suicide, substance misuse, and mental health diagnoses, lower standards of living, educational completion, and life expectancy. This funding will allow us to break the cycle of despair that Wabanaki youth are too used to. The interventions we propose are both clinical and cultural. This grant will allow WPHW to train more call agents for WabCare, a warmline offering referrals and outreach specifically to youth. It will allow more youth specific training for crisis intervention and postvention within the community through our Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) team. Part of the funding will also be used to fund awareness campaigns of the presence of WabCare and CISM as resources for our youth. Additionally, we are in the process of building a network that will offer Intensive Outpatient Programs through a telehealth model to increase accessibility for those in need. Wabanaki feel the culture handed down from our ancestors is medicine. To this end, we recognize that connecting our youth back to our culture allows them to call on the supports our culture brings to the challenges of modern life. This grant will help us bring people together in ways desperately needed after the isolation of the pandemic. Using the Gathering of Native Americans model we intend to hold youth specific gatherings that incorporate our Wabanaki traditions. These gatherings are inclusive and open to all. 2023 and 2024 will see our Youth Cultural Center come to fruition in downtown Bangor. This will be a hub for Project Venture experiences but also arts classes taught by local native artists and language classes that had transitioned to the web due to the pandemic. To track and evaluate the success of these and other efforts we will build data management into our youth programming. Working with the Center for Wabanaki Research, Knowledge, and Innovation and the Public Health Research Institute we have already begun this process through data collection on those participating in our Project Venture after-school programming and WabCare but anticipate building out our data collection to other programs and gatherings.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
