Colorado-Based
Entrepreneurial Suicide Prevention Initiative Launches National Expansion
Denver, Colorado. March 28, 2014. While the majority of suicide deaths occur in
working aged adults, the journey often begins in youth with suicidal thoughts
and suicidal behavior. When a teen dies by or attempts, the impact is devastating
and long-standing, and the ripple effects on family, friends, schools and
communities profound. For these reasons, the
Carson J Spencer Foundation takes
an “upstream” approach to this challenging public health issue with its FIRE
Within program. The FIRE Within program, a partnership among the Carson J
Spencer Foundation, the Second Wind Fund and Junior Achievement, is a teen
leadership initiative that engages high school students to use entrepreneurial
strategies to alleviate root causes to student distress. In other words,
students create an innovative business that raises both money and awareness for
suicide prevention and mental health promotion. With a significant investment
from the Adolph Coors Foundation, the program expanded from three to 50 schools
in Colorado from 2011-2014. In 2012, the Carson J Spencer Foundation received
additional funding from the Manhattan-based Ittleson Foundation to scale the
program nationally. During 2013, the Carson J Spencer Foundation hosted
multiple Executive Roundtable sessions around the country to gauge community
interest in the program and narrowed down the pool of possible locations to
eight sites. After a six-month feasibility study, the Carson J Spencer
Foundation announces today that the pilot effort for the national expansion
will include testing the program’s viability in New York City, San Francisco, and
Massachusetts starting September 2014.
For
more information on the FIRE Within visit: http://carsonjspencer.org/programs/firewithin/
To
achieve this pilot effort, the Carson J Spencer Foundation is collaborating
with the Mental Health Association of New York City (MHA-NYC), the Mental
Health Association of San Francisco (MHASF), Riverside Trauma Center
(Massachusetts), and the Cape and Islands Youth Suicide Prevention Project
(Massachusetts). Each of these “hub partners” will implement the FIRE Within
program in three or more schools when the school year begins next fall.
“MHA-NYC
is proud to be a part of the national launch of the FIRE Within program, an
innovative and effective social entrepreneurship approach to educating and
supporting young people to address suicide prevention in their communities,”
said Lisa Furst, Director of Public Education, MHA-NYC.
“The
Mental Health Association of San Francisco is thrilled to be partnering with
the Carson J Spencer Foundation on the first implementation of FIRE Within in
California,” said Eduardo Vega, Executive Director of MHASF. “Diverse
metropolitan communities like ours that are challenged by youth suicide need
solutions that actively engage youth and empower them by putting them in the
driver's seat to make an impact on their peers. The unique entrepreneurial
approach of the FIRE Within develops leadership and creativity while it engages
young people to support each other, to work as change agents in nontraditional
ways, and to challenge stigma associated with mental health conditions.”
Over
the full academic year, the FIRE Within program gives students the opportunity
to understand firsthand how business can positively impact a community. They
learn about innovation and business skills, they build capacity for suicide
prevention and mental health promotion, they use needs assessment tools to
uncover the root causes of student suffering, and then they put it all together
and launch a business that generates profit while alleviating the drivers of
distress.
“Riverside
Trauma Center is extremely excited about collaborating with the Carson J
Spencer Foundation on the FIRE Within program,” says Larry Berkowitz, Director
of the Riverside Trauma Center. “This ‘outside the box’ approach to youth suicide
prevention builds leadership skills, connects local businesses with the young
people in their communities, and promotes recovery. This creative program will
support Riverside’s efforts to reduce the impact of suicide and suicidal
behaviors among youth in Massachusetts.”
Maura
Weir, Coordinator for the Cape and Islands Youth Suicide Prevention Project of
the Community Health Center of Cape Cod adds, “The decision to partner with the
Carson J Spencer Foundation was made because of their great leadership and
because the FIRE Within is a dynamic program created for young people to get
involved with a very worthy cause.
Suicide prevention is everyone’s business and this program will provide
a strategy to do this with high school aged youth.”
For
more information about how your community can get involved with the FIRE Within
contact Sally Spencer-Thomas Sally@CarsonJSpencer.org
or visit www.CarsonJSpencer.org or
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About the Carson J Spencer Foundation - Sustaining a Passion for Living
The
Carson J Spencer Foundation (www.CarsonJSpencer.org)
is a Colorado nonprofit, established in 2005.
We envision a world where leaders and communities are committed to
sustaining a passion for living. We sustain a passion for living by:
- Delivering innovative and effective suicide
prevention programs for working-aged people
- Coaching young leaders to develop social
enterprises for mental health promotion and suicide prevention
- Supporting people bereaved by suicide
The Carson J Spencer
Foundation is the proud 2013 recipient of the “Small Nonprofit of the Year”
award from the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.
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