Umatter and the Vermont Suicide Prevention Center

On May 23rd, 2019, thanks to funding from the University of Vermont's Collective Impact grant, the Vermont Suicide Prevention Center was honored to work with the Abenaki Parent Advisory Council (PAC) and Northwestern Region Counseling and Support Services (NCSS) to coordinate the Grand Isle Healthcare Provider Forum as part of the Connecting Rural Communities Project.  The three above named organizations came together with Community Health Centers of VT, Northwestern Medical Center, Veterans Administration, Supporting Services at Home, Visiting Nurse Association, UVM Medical Center and other healthcare providers to talk about building out suicide safer and culturally competent pathways to care in Grand Isle County. 

The Goal of "Connecting Rural Communities" is to improve suicide prevention efforts and access to behavioral health and health care in Grand Isle County, with a focus on providing culturally competent services to members of the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi. In the first year of the grant, the three partnering groups met regularly to design and conduct interviews with consumers and providers of health and behavioral health services in Grand Isle; create a network map of services; plan and implement Umatter Training of Trainers and Cultural Competency trainings; and plan the culminating event, the Provider Forum.   

With a new grant from UVM Collective Impact, VTSPC, PAC, and NCSS will continue use new information from interviews and new relationships created by the interviews and the Forum to assess needs and capacities around suicide safer care; create culturally competent training materials based on input from Abenaki partners; and engage providers and community members in Umatter, Zero Suicide, and cultural competency trainings.