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Accomplishments & Current Initiatives

Since 2001, we have served as catalysts and facilitators of community change, successfully creating and implementing numerous community and mental health interventions, including the following:

Community Engagement & Education

  • Convened 18 regional Children’s Issues Forums and 8 Specific Issue Data Briefings (children in foster care, teen dating violence, youth vaping, etc.)
  • Facilitated 3 Youth Mental Health Summits—the last 2 facilitated with local youth
  • Published 5 local reports (with town-by-town statistics) on children’s well-being
  • Engaged over 1,800 children and adults in Chalk It Up Against Bullying community chalk art events in 5 towns: Wakefield, Westerly, Wickford, Exeter, and Block Island

Building Professional Capacity

  • Increased the skills of the county’s health/mental health workforce by providing over 100 trainings for area primary care providers and 24 dinner lectures for PCPs and area behavioral health clinicians through Collaborative Office Rounds (1 of 10 sites nationally funded through Maternal Child Health Bureau)
  • Organized an intensive professional development workshop series for area mental health clinicians in Adapting Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Children
  • Organized 3 professional development trainings on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) with national and state experts
  • Organized trainings to improve school engagement for district attendance teams

Youth Empowerment & Support

  • Conducted over 100 teen and Youth Mental Health First Aid trainings, certifying over 150 teens and 1,200 youth-serving adults (parents, coaches, teachers, pastors, and more)
  • Collected over $40,000 in gifts, gift cards, and cash donations for an annual Holiday Gift Drive for Teens in partnership with Casey’s Grill & Bar for 9 years (2004-2012)
  • Partnered with Chris Collins Foundation and University of Rhode Island Human Development & Family Science Dept. to convene 13-member Youth Advisory Council and develop the region’s first youth-driven ACTION PLAN for Mental Wellness
  • Launched SYNC (Sharing Your Next Conversation) youth mental health podcast series

Prevention & Early Intervention

  • Promoted emotional literacy to over 5,000 2nd graders engaged in our Feelin’ Groovy lesson plan and bookmark contest, with ~20,000 bookmarks printed by graphic arts students at Chariho Area Career & Tech Center distributed to local libraries
  • Promoted and implemented proven bullying prevention efforts at area middle schools
  • Produced Planting the Seeds of Kindness bullying prevention toolkits (with lesson plans and picture books) and 2-part training for area preschools and child care sites
  • Developed and distributed Celebrating Diversity! Toolkits (reading lists, games, and activities) to 19 area child care centers
  • Piloted an innovative middle school project to lower dropout rates & address student mental health issues at Curtis Corner Middle School

Innovation & Access to New Resources

  • Developed an online, searchable Children’s Behavioral Health Resource Directory for parents and providers
  • Created recommended bullying prevention reading lists (using best practice standards) for use with elementary, middle, and high school students
  • Developed podcasts for parents on children’s mental health topics
  • Created recommended children’s mental health book lists for elementary, middle, and high school students to provide accurate information and a sense of hope to students struggling with mental health challenges, and donated ~200 recommended books to local public and school libraries
  • Developed Welcome Baby! packets to educate expectant mothers in their 3rd trimester about postpartum depression and maternal-infant bonding
  • Collaborated with University of Rhode Island researchers to create The Greatest Eight™ digital resource (website, podcasts, blogs, text messaging service) to help parents instill 8 core mental health skills in their young children ages 0-8 (available statewide in English & Spanish)

Systems Change & Advocacy

  • Spearheaded community planning in Westerly to address teen pregnancy, delayed prenatal care, and food insecurity
  • Conducted a countywide survey of adult attitudes about bullying
  • Collaborated with Thundermist Health Center and Narragansett School System to pilot tele-behavioral health services to middle and high school students during the school day with the support of a Community Health Worker
  • Worked with Rep. Teresa Tanzi & Sen. Alana DiMario to propose state legislation requiring commercial insurance coverage of Community Health Worker & youth Mobile Response & Stabilization Services (MRSS)—the MRSS legislation became law in 2025; CHW legislation is still pending

Coalition Initiatives/Projects currently underway

  • The Greatest 8™. Created in parentership with URI & Brown University, The Greatest 8™ supports parents/caregivers in teaching 8 core mental health skills (associated with lifelong mental wellness) to their young children ages 0-8. This novel digital resource for parents (translatable into over 100 languages) includes a FREE weekly text messaging service available statewide in both English & Spanish.
  • School-Based Tele-Behavioral Health (BH) Services. In partnership with Thundermist Health Center and Narragansett School System, the Coalition is piloting a tele-BH model utilizing a Community Health Worker to make needed connections for care with students, families, schools, pediatricians, and behavioral health providers that we hope to grow throughout the region.
  • Youth-driven ACTION PLAN FOR MENTAL WELLNESS. Crafted by the Coalition’s county-wide Youth Advisory Council in partnership with URI and the Chris Collins Foundation, the Coaltion is supporting area youth in implementing this important 4-part action plan.
  • teen & Youth Mental Health FIrst Aid.  Certification trainings for area adolescents and youth-serving adults that teach participants how to help a youth experiencing a mental health challenges, including crises.  Training are offered in collaboration with the University of Rhode Island. 
  • Below the Surface. Youth mental health awareness campaign rolled out in Fall 2022 in partnership with the Chariho Youth Task Force and Chris Collins Foundation.
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