Happy Fall Y'all- Important Announcements!

[Julie Hook]

Hello there HOPE Coalition  🙂

Since we decided at our last meeting that we'd skip a formal get together in October, our next scheduled coalition meeting won't be until Wednesday, November 19th.There's been lots of good stuff happening this month, and we'll have a lot to talk about at our November Meeting --including our YOUth Belong Survey results and a status update about the Foster Family Holiday Party.  I'll send reminders and a zoom link for the November meeting later, but in the meantime, I wanted to share a few important announcements.

1) HOPE/PreventEd/Scenic Regional Library is recognized with the 2024 Outstanding Community Partnership Award

Our partners at Scenic Regional are a perfect example of true community collaboration- from distributing educational materials and prescription safety locking kits, to hosting community trainings, to providing accessible space and support the PreventEd naloxone vending machine, our library system and their entire staff have helped us connect with thousands of community members with our message.  We are honored to have received this award, and it's displayed proudly in our meeting room!  I've attached a photo of our partner representatives accepting our award. ♥️

2) The Missouri Student Survey will be conducted January-March 2026

In preparation for the next Missouri Student Survey, PreventEd is hosting an informational presentation November 5 at 1pm to help community members, school representatives, and other helping agencies understand the importance of this data collection tool.  Our prevention planning strategies rely strongly on the information we collect through the MSS, administered to 6th - 12th grade students.  The more participation we have in the survey, the more reliable the data will be, so please try to attend this informational session so you can encourage your school contacts to enroll when the survey becomes available.  Check the attached flyer for more details, and register here for this training, either virtually or in person. 

3) Free Suicide Prevention Training - QPR:  Question, Persuade, Respond - available for groups of up to 30 people at no cost.

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is providing the funding for this free training to help participants recognize the warning signs and be prepared to help if someone is contemplating suicide.  QPR can be a presented to groups of school personnel, church members, civic organizations, any group of caring community members, and can be shared in person or virtually.  See the attached flyer for more information about QPR.  You can also contact our local QPR trainer, Emily Wilkerson at ewilk...@prevented.org for further details.  

Watch for more updates and our next meeting reminder soon!

Julie Hook, Program Director HOPE for Franklin County Coalition 3033 Highway A, Suite 102 Washington, MO  63090 (office) 636.239.7652 (mobile) 636.485.4104