Congratulations to Tiff Hanson, NAMI Montana’s Treasurer, on being awarded an Impact Award at the Montana Conference on Suicide Prevention in Missoula on July 20th. Tiff has been a tireless advocate for better suicide prevention and post-vention strategies after losing her niece to suicide. Tiff worked to bring Drs. Scott and Donna Poland to Montana to work with the Office of Public Instruction’s Montana Behavioral Initiative Conference.
The Polands’ presentation went over so well that they were asked to develop “
The Montana Crisis Action School Toolkit on Suicide” (Montana CAST-S 2017) in collaboration between the Big Sky Council and NAMI Montana to support Montana school communities in meeting requirements of Montana state legislative statutes HB381 (2017) and HB374 (2015). The goal in the creation of CAST-S was to support each school district and their communities to have access to much needed resources in developing their own protocols and crisis plan for preventing and addressing youth suicides. The CAST-S is a free resource for all Montana school leaders and staff.NAMI Montana is deeply grateful for all of Tiff Hanson’s visionary leadership and honored to call her a member of our team!
Shodair Children’s Hospital recently paid for a hard copy of a CAST-S to be delivered to every principal in the State of Montana. Dr. Keith Foster and Heather Zaluski of Shodair Children’s Hospital also received Impact Awards for their amazing efforts to improve and expand Montana’s suicide prevention efforts.
Thanks again to Tiff, Keith, Health and everyone else who has put their heart and soul into this critical cause.
