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Western Wayne suicide‑prevention coalition expands peer programs; district adds facility dog
Summary
The Hope Empowerment Coalition reported countywide suicide‑prevention activity, presented local statistics and launched grant‑funded peer programming; the district introduced a trained facility dog, Madden, funded by Priority Health.
Coalition leaders and district staff briefed the board on countywide efforts to prevent adolescent suicide and promote mental‑health supports, and showed how local partnerships are expanding services in Western Wayne County.
Brian Galdis, lead of GrowthWorks and the coalition formerly called the Wayne County Suicide Prevention Coalition, told the board the group — renamed the Hope Empowerment Coalition — brings school districts, health systems and service agencies together to coordinate screenings, training and crisis transitions. Amanda Fannin, the district’s supervisor for social‑emotional learning, McKinney‑Vento and foster‑care liaison, introduced Galdis and the coalition's update.
Galdis presented national and state survey results the coalition is using to explain the scale of need: he said the Centers for Disease Control shows suicide is the second leading cause of death for ages 10–14 and that about 40% of students report prolonged sadness or hopelessness. He said the coalition extrapolated national percentages to the district’s roughly 3,000 high‑school students and noted that 22% reported considering suicide and 9% reported attempts in national data; he described those district extrapolations as illustrative, not as documented local case counts.
The coalition described steps already under way: a common crisis screener used by participating districts and partner health systems to align triage and referrals; QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) trainings for staff — more than 6,500 people have completed QPR sessions across the coalition’s member districts and agencies — and coordinated data collection to evaluate program impact.
Among new initiatives, GrowthWorks is funding three years of peer‑to‑peer programming (no district cost for the first three years), and the coalition is launching a Students Versus Stigma leadership team that will include student representatives from each high school to advise the adult coalition and bring student voice to program design. Galdis said the student team has already drafted a name, mission and core values and would begin work in September.
The district also introduced Madden, a 7‑month‑old facility dog assigned to the district crisis team and to Hamilton Elementary. Amanda Fannin said Priority Health sponsored Madden’s procurement and training—about $15,000—and that Madden was trained by Canines for Change near Lansing. Fannin said Madden will have two host handlers in the district and will support students and staff during crises and school events.
Board members asked where the coalition needed district help. Galdis thanked district staff for participation and requested continued representation and local support for coalition programming; he said the coalition’s peer programs, student leadership and aligned screening were the highest priorities for additional roll‑out.
The coalition said most of the new services and student leadership work are grant funded; the presenters emphasized the coalition’s role in connecting districts with providers, coordinating screenings and supporting crisis transitions so students and families can access timely care.
