First choice crisis center follow-up initiative - the first choice crisis center follow-up initiative expands post-contact supports to provide continued support/linkages & decrease suicide risk

The focus population is all people living in west virginia. The focus population has high access to lethal means, is rural and suffers from high rates of suicidal ideation, substance use disorder, poverty, unemployment & poor mental health, all of which contribute to suicide. The project will serve 18,000 people (9,000/year). Project goals (INTERVENTIONS/STRATEGIES) include: (1) ensure the systematic follow-up of suicidal persons who call/visit the 988 suicide & crisis lifeline. By (a) hiring 3 crisis case managers to systematically follow-up with suicidal persons who call/visit the 24/7 988 lifeline; (B) initiating the case management platform to be used by crisis case managers and law enforcement to track services provided & (C) providing training on culturally responsive care to first choice staff. (2) enhance coordination between entities engaged in the crisis continuum of care to improve services for suicidal persons in west virginia by (a) leveraging the case management platform to identify needed partnerships; (B) engaging partners in response to identified needs; (C) conducting an annual WV 988 & crisis intervention team (CIT) summit to connect the WV crisis continuum; (D) leveraging the annual WV 988 & CIT summit to build the WV 988 & CIT workgroup which will create statewide CIT policies; (E) creating a statewide crisis training and critical incident debriefing website; (F) initiating weekly collaboration between first choice and the WV 988 crisis/disaster coordinator; (G) providing training on culturally responsive care to community partners; (H) building collaborative partnerships with agencies who provide short-term crisis stabilization & (I) establishing data sharing agreements with the WV suicide fatality review team. (3) reduce unnecessary police engagements for west virginians with suicidal ideation by (a) working with law enforcement partners to leverage the case management platform to measure & report on the percentage of contacts that require police engagement throughout the project period; (B) working with law enforcement to devise data-driven processes for reducing the percentage of contacts that require police engagement throughout the project period; (C) implementing data-driven processes to reduce crisis encounters requiring police engagement; (D) leveraging outcomes to engage additional law enforcement partners & (E) expanding CIT training throughout the state. (4) improve connections to crisis care and follow-up services for high-risk west virginians by (a) leveraging the annual WV 988 & crisis CIT summit & community partners to identify high-risk population stakeholders to participate in the WV 988 & CIT workgroup; (B) monitoring high-risk & disparity groups to ensure equal service use, outcomes, access & retention & (C) identifying/engaging in training partners in high-risk and disparity group communities. (5) improve the well-being of west virginians who are at risk of suicide by (a) screening 100% of individuals answering follow-up calls for suicidal ideation; (B) referring individuals to crisis or other mental health services for suicide risk/ideation/behavior; (C) empowering callers/visitors expressing suicidal ideation to have a statistically significant improvement in self-rated well-being at 3-month follow-up & (D) empowering 95% of callers/visitors experiencing suicidal ideation to not have a suicide attempt at 3-month follow-up. (6) sustain initiative services post-grant to permanently enhance the crisis continuum of care for west virginia residents by (a) creating a sustainability plan for each budget line item to ensure service sustainability & (B) working with state partners to sustain the 988 program.