By: Kristina Spannbauer, Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, & PTTC Communications Specialist
The NIATx
model for process improvement
was initially based on the question: Could the strategies used to improve
processes in manufacturing and other industries be used to improve services in other
fields, such as in substance use disorder (SUD), mental health, and educational
settings? For the past 20 years, many organizations from a diverse range of
professional fields have successfully used NIATx to implement change and streamline
work processes. One recent success story comes from an intensive technical
assistance (ITA) learning collaborative, Building Capacity for Effective
School-based Suicide Prevention, sponsored by the Great Lakes Mental Health Technology
Transfer Center School-based Supplement (SB-MHTTC) and the American
Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
October 13, 2021, was the official start date of the four-month ITA learning collaborative. Comprised of 12 participating school districts, the overarching aim of the project was to implement effective school-based suicide prevention efforts within the schools of each district. Many team projects focused on creating or revising suicide prevention policies, establishing protocol review schedules, creating suicide crisis manuals, and increasing staff awareness of suicide prevention policies. The incorporation of the NIATx Change Leader Academy curriculum within the prolonged learning collaborative training schedule allowed the districts more time to fully develop and implement their change projects according to NIATx principles.
Learning collaborative participants Susan
Kennedy and Laura Vanderheyden of the Racine (WI) Unified School District reported that throughout the October
2021–January 2022 training schedule, they were able to complete a full
inventory of their district’s current suicide prevention resources, create the
first draft of their Response Manual for Suicidal Crisis, and establish
sustainability best practices for using and reviewing newly integrated
resources and protocols in their schools.
Ms. Kennedy and
Ms. Vanderheyden recommend other schools and organizations use NIATx to make
significant and lasting process improvements, commenting “[NIATx] helped define
a direction and provide guidance on how to achieve our goal.”
For those
interested in learning more about the Building Capacity for Effective
School-based Suicide Prevention learning collaborative, additional testimonials
and details from the participating districts’ final presentations will be shared
in upcoming blog posts. In the meantime, check out the NIATx
website to discover
other success stories and learn how you can use NIATx in your
own work.
