Wyoming statewide family network program - wyoming statewide family network the wyoming statewide family network (WY SFN) enhances the capacity of uplift, the only family-run support and advocacy…

Wyoming statewide family network program - wyoming statewide family network the wyoming statewide family network (WY SFN) enhances the capacity of uplift, the only family-run support and advocacy organization in the state focused on families raising children with serious emotional disorder (SED), to engage families/primary caregivers, strengthen coalitions, and ultimately serve as the catalyst for transforming mental health and related systems. Families raising children, youth, and young adults with SED in wyoming face extraordinary challenges. 96.4% of wyoming's population live in designated mental health service shortage areas (hubbard, kaia. US news & world report. June 10, 2021). The COVID19 pandemic has exacerbated isolation, lack of access to services, and the prevalence of mental health challenges. (jessica grose. Many schools aren't made for kids with learning differences. The pandemic amplified that. New york times. March 16, 2022.) per the wyoming department of health, the rate of death by suicide in wyoming is twice the national average. Wyoming, with the smallest population (u.s census estimates 576,851) and the ninth largest land mass (97,813 square miles) of all 50 states, has the largest share of micropolitan areas (micros) of any state in the country at 44.2%. Typical to micros, wyoming is less diverse and more economically depressed than the U.S. As a whole. According to the latest statistics from the U.S. Census bureau, the population of wyoming is primarily white at 92.5%. American indian and alaskan natives make up 2.7% of the population with members of the eastern shoshone and northern arapaho tribes living on the wind river reservation in central-western wyoming. Black/african americans make up 1.3% of the population. Slightly more than 10% of the population identify as hispanic/latino. The wyoming statewide family network will employ in-person and virtual experiences to provide critical advocacy and support to individual families; facilitate enhanced access to and quality of evidence-based and promising family/caregiver peer to peer support; and enhance family voice and leadership throughout the state, impacting improvements to behavioral health policy, services and systems. This funding will provide for at least 300 instances of support and advocacy for families and primary caregivers, 900 over the life of the grant, and intense mentoring and coaching for 50 families to actively engage in their child's care planning, 150 families over the life of the grant. An estimated 1,000 families annually (3,000 over the life of the grant) will have open access to information and support through daily postings about wellness, holistic care, trauma-informed care, resiliency, and hope on two social media platforms, instagram and facebook. Two closed, peer moderated facebook groups will be established. One group will be for families seeking to connect with other families for mutual support and socialization. The other will be for volunteer family/caregiver peer providers who want to discuss statewide leadership and advocacy challenges, strategies, and emerging best practices. Reciprocal relationships will be formalized with new memorandums of understanding with four cross sector partner agencies per year, achieving 12 active partnerships over the life of the grant. These partnerships will serve as portals for uplift to share information about the needs of families/caregivers raising children with SED, trauma-informed, culturally relevant, holistic, and resiliency oriented care. They will also serve as portals for families to access sector specific expertise such as substance use recovery, suicide prevention, and kinship care. Families will be trained and coached to serve on the decision-making bodies, such as councils, boards, and workgroups of cross sector partners, policy-making bodies, and service