From the Field to the Classroom: Mobile crisis Brings Street Experience into Schools

Who we are and what we do CAHOOTS serving youth: Types of Calls Mobile Mental Health Mental Wellness and Suicide prevention Within a Classroom Setting Crisis Incident Response Questions

Who We Are and What We Do White Bird History and Departments Free and Confidential CAHOOTS: How We Work Non-Criminal Crises Our Model Medical Calls Teams Community Outreach Contracts Advocacy Dispatch/Partner Agencies Cahoots, Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets, the mobile crisis response team for Springfield and Eugene, has been operating in various capacities since 1989, working in tandem with police and Fire/EMS. Cahoots teams run 24 hours a day, every day, and consist of crisis workers and medical professionals staffed and managed by White Bird Clinic, and contracted in Eugene through public safety funds and in Springfield through Lane County. The Cahoots vans are dispatched through the cities non-emergency police-fire-ambulance call centers. Free response is available for a broad range of non-criminal crises, including those generated from things like homelessness, suicidal ideation, disorientation, substance dependency and mental illness. Non-emergency medical care, first-aid, and transportation services are also provided, as well as dispute resolution, mediation, grief and loss counseling, death notifications, and welfare checks. Services provided include but are not limited to: crisis counseling, suicide prevention and risk assessments, resource exploration, transportation to staffed services, and first-aid and non-emergency medical care. Cahoots further serves the community by accumulating and triaging resources to clients, working in collaboration with the many services and agencies operating within the community. Cahoots expands its interagency relationships by providing trainings to a wide range of populations, including suicide prevention and mental wellness trainings and ongoing clinics for middle and high school students, and de-escalation trainings to medical providers, people working with unhoused populations, and other businesses and agencies in our community who would like to learn interpersonal skills for people who are in a crisis. Cahoots also serves on committees, teams, and councils that strive to better the lives of some of the most vulnerable populations and high impact service users in the area.

CAHOOTS Serving Youth: Types of Calls Unhoused Youth Suicidal Youth Completed Suicides Family Mediation Drugs and Alcohol Mental Illness

Mobile Mental Health Resource Clinics What: A School-Based Behavioral Health Program & Community Partnership​ Who: Targeting Middle and High School Youth ​ Where: School Sites​ When: Weekly or More During School and After School​ Why: ​ Emerging mental health issues are often first identified in the school environment​ Huge impact on academic success and attendance​ Promotion of empowerment of healthy behavior choices​ Access to mental health care in schools is a need A School-Based Behavioral Health Program & Community Partnership Supporting Youth and Family Mental Health is Ready to Roll! The Mobile Mental Health Resource Clinic (MMHRC) is a school-based mental health program that targets middle and high school youth struggling with mental health issues that can impact academic success. Often the first signs of mental illness or emotional distress for youth emerges in the school environment. Mental health issues such as, anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, peer and/or family relationship problems can impact academic performance. Nationally, and in Oregon, schools are reporting an increase of youth with mental health issues (Kaiser Health News, 2016). Most schools do not have the capacity to respond to, or anticipate, student behavioral health situations that require immediate trauma/crisis care. The MMHRC allows youth to self-advocate for healthy behavior choices and get what they need to be skilled, knowledgeable, and engaged learners. The MMHRC is a community partnership between White Bird Clinic/CAHOOTS, the Academy of Arts & Academics (Springfield School District)*, and the Network Charter School (4J School District). The services are provided by a CAHOOTS team of clinicians offering free, confidential services on a weekly drop-in basis every Wednesday. MMHRC services include: mental health counseling, basic medical support, family and peer mediation, access to social services, food, clothing, sexual health, hygienic items, and a caring person to talk to confidentially. *District-wide drop-in’s are available to all Springfield high school students and families at the Academy of Arts & Academics (ArtSpace, 136 6th Street, Springfield) between 3:30 - 5:30 on Wednesdays when school is in session.

Mental Wellness and Suicide Prevention Within a Classroom Setting Who: 8th-12th Grades​ What: Lecture and Small Group Discussion​ Anxiety and Depression​ Reasons Why Youth Experience S.I.​ Barriers to Support​ Ways to Support Ourselves and Each Other​ Resources Mental Wellness and Suicide Prevention Within a Classroom Setting MENTAL WELLNESS PRESENTATION FOR STUDENTS Who: For 8th to 12th Grades What: A lecture and small group discussion targeted at youth on the topics of crisis and suicide that highlights interpersonal skills-building and self-care, peer support, and available resources. Cahoots uses data from its work in the field that breaks down reasons why adolescents experience suicidal ideation and barriers to reaching out for support. We address these issues and the feelings behind stress, isolation and hopelessness in small group discussions using scenarios, which we then debrief as a class. We discuss what “help” looks like, and ways to influence each other positively while taking care of ourselves at the same time. When: This is preventative mental health. As with any sensitive topic, it is best to present during times of relative stability, and in a safe environment. That said, Cahoots does also do crisis response in school settings, and is happy to come out to your school and assist in providing safe space after a completed suicide, and to talk to students individually or in groups about grief and loss. Where: The best practice for our suicide prevention/crisis de-escalation presentation is set within the curriculum of a health class while the topic of mental health is being addressed. We are happy, however, to accommodate the needs and resources of your school population if that looks different for you. Why: Cahoots works in the field of mental health and crisis. We respond to the completed suicides and many of the suicidal subjects in Eugene and Springfield. We perform suicide risk assessments for the police, and have a wide experience with depression, anxiety, and severe mental health issues, such as psychosis. We also do family mediation and disputes, and have close ties to services for adolescents and their families, and for mental health services within our community. We also realize that the system is sometimes not the best solution in a crisis, and that peer support and family support can be helpful as well. We feel that student populations benefit from knowing more about what is happening for them during a crisis, what to look for in others who are in crisis, what is available to them and how they can help themselves and one another.

Mental Wellness and Suicide Prevention Within a Classroom Setting Where: Possible Settings​ When: Timing is Important ​ Why: Call Data Dictates the Work

Crisis Incident Response Relationships Possibilities and things we are doing now make us relevant in any school tragedy response we are connected with

Questions? Laurel Lisovskis, Client Outreach​ laurel@whitebirdclinic.org​ Ashley Barnhill-Hubbard, Youth Liaison​ ashley@whitebirdclinic.org​ Benjamin Brubaker, White Bird Clinic Co- Coordinator​ benjah@whitebirdclinic.org​ Kate Gillespie, CAHOOTS clinical Co- Coordinator​ kate@whitebirdclinic.org​ Tim Black, CAHOOTS operations Co- Coordinator​ tim@whitebirdclinic.org​ ​ Questions?