Health Department hosts Situation Training session to help save lives

CLAY COUNTY, KY – Operation 2 Save Lives (O2SL) and QRT National delivered a two-day Situation Training session in Clay County, KY. The county will launch the Clay County, KY Situation Table – a model that facilitates multi-agency interventions for those at risk of experiencing a crisis – on July 23.

The training took place from June 24-25 at the Cumberland Valley District Health Department and was delivered by Mike Botieri, Dustin Bowman and Daniel Meloy of O2SL & QRT National. The training was funded by Kentucky KORE (Kentucky Opioid Response Effort) and the Cabinet of Health.

Twenty-nine participants attended the training, representing 13 agencies, including the Cumberland Valley District Health Department, Volunteers of America Mid-States, Cumberland River Behavioral Health, Daniel Boone Community Action Agency, Clay County Cooperative Extension Office, AdventHealth Manchester, Laurel County KY-ASAP, Living Clean LLC, Brightview of Somerset and half of the Manchester, KY Police Department. The community was well represented and offered excellent perspective and insight into their outreach and engagement efforts.

The training focused on equipping the attending agencies with the skills and lessons necessary to form a Situation Table. A Situation Table is a unique, risk-based rapid triage model that brings together multiple human service providers to address situations where individuals and/or families are facing a specific threshold of Acutely Elevated Risk (AER). Situation Tables comprise representatives from public safety agencies, public health agencies, service providers and other community partners.

Q2SL and QRT National would like to thank Cumberland Valley District Health Department’s Christie Green and Elizabeth Boggs for their hospitality during the training and help with scheduling and preparing for the Clay County Situation Table training event.

Through the model, an individual or family at Acutely Elevated Risk would be referred to the Situation Table for consideration of possible intervention before a crisis occurs. The Table participants will collaborate and discuss the identified risk factors and possible services. Upon reaching a consensus, the Table would identify a team of agencies to attempt to locate the individual or family and connect them to services.

“We had a great time in Clay County. The participants were very engaged in the training,” said Botieri. “We hope the training helps participants implement strategies for their upcoming Clay County Situation Table launch later this month.”

The Situation Table model was developed in Canada by Global Network for Community Safety (Global Network), a Canadian-based firm that focuses on innovations to improve community safety and wellbeing across Canada and in the U.S. Through the O2SL & QRT National – Global Network partnership, the organizations work cross-border to collectively provide multi-agency community responses to address issues of marginalization, for pre-crisis identification and crisis interventions, while creating pathways to care and support. Their combined expertise and suite of services – based on internationally recognized best past practices – help provide communities with tailored responses to meet their current needs, and the ability to rapidly adjust to an evolving landscape of risk factors including those around substance use disorders, mental health disorders, and related social health issues.