Coalition Initiatives
Yellow Ribbon Campaign – an awareness campaign held every September (Suicide Prevention and Awareness month) throughout the four counties. All area schools are offered a kit created by the coalition that contains yellow ribbon and sidewalk chalk. A student group from the school takes the materials we give them and creates their own suicide awareness campaign in their community.
Stomp on Stigma Campaign – a visual awareness campaign that was created by the coalition and has been featured in the Ohio Strategic Plan for Suicide Prevention. Throughout the months of August and September shoe collection bins are placed throughout communities in the four counties. The collection bins serve as an awareness tool as they display signs about decreasing the stigma associated with mental illness as well as serve as a place for people to donate their old worn out shoes. Once collected the shoes are then used in 1 of 3 displays which are held at NW State Community College, Defiance College and the Fulton County Fair. The goal is to display 136 pairs of shoes with each pair of shoes representing a resident of Defiance, Fulton, Henry or Williams county who died by suicide between 2010 to 2015.
Act Out Assemblies – are performed by a social issue theater group out of Indianapolis who present to area 8th grade students on issues they face such as bullying, dating and suicide. The highly interactive presentation produces some charged conversations and gives students a chance to think through and problem solve how certain situations should be handled.
Kognito On-Line Interactive Training – is available for free for a limited time only. This highly interactive computer based program gives the participant an opportunity to practice how they would handle a suicidal crisis. The participant is assigned a computer generated avatar. The Avatar presents with a set of symptoms and through the course of conversation the participant chooses how he/she will respond to the avatar. This is a 1 hour training for middle and high school educators only. Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation
Safe Talk Training – is a three hour interactive training developed by Livingworks. This program not only teaches the signs to look for in a suicidal individual but also allows participants to practice asking a person if they are feeling suicidal. This program is free and open to any and all groups in the community 15 and older.
Gatekeeper Training – is a one hour training developed by Ellen Anderson. It is geared toward a general audience and provides basic information on depression and suicide. This training is free and open to any adult in the community.