A Community Project to Enhance Mental Well-Being

Blaine County’s Mental Well-Being Initiative[i] seeks to grow an integrated mental health and well-being ecosystem that improves the lives of all people in our community. Spearheaded by the St. Luke’s Wood River Foundation in response to a clear need for improved mental health resources, the Mental Well-Being Initiative (MWBI) is a collaboration of over 40 partners[ii]—including local government, healthcare, nonprofit, education, business, and religious organizations—working to achieve a shared vision.

Our vision is bold: Make it possible for everyone in our community to achieve mental well-being. Success will require the support and collaboration of every part of our community.

Coming Together to Create Solutions

In 2023, the St. Luke’s Wood River Foundation convened various stakeholders and community members to map our well-being ecosystem – from prevention and intervention to treatment and recovery – with the goal of identifying strengths that could be amplified and vital gaps that could be filled. Based on input from the community, the MWBI will implement solutions in five key areas:

1. Create a multitude of welcoming community-connecting environments and activities to encourage belonging among teens and cross-generational connections throughout the community.

2. Build a robust, comprehensive community training and education program focused on resiliency, self-regulation, healthy communication, and crisis de-escalation.

3. Increase behavioral health access and capacity for individuals and families by identifying and addressing inadequacies within the system and building out the necessary behavioral health workforce.

4. Create a 24-hour mobile mental health crisis response system and crisis stabilization options.

5. Build the infrastructure required to sustain a collective impact approach to prioritize our community’s mental health as essential to our overall health.

Early Initiatives

At its September 2024 board meeting, the St. Luke’s Wood River Foundation Board of Directors awarded a series of initial grants focused on increasing access to behavioral health care for all and prevention efforts in our youth.

• Spanish-language Counseling Services – Our community will pilot Sanarai, an online therapy program delivered in Spanish by native speakers, with support from local case managers. The services will be offered through partner organizations, including the St. Luke’s Center for Community Health, The Hunger Coalition, Family Health Services, and The Alliance of Idaho.
• Patient Financial Assistance – St. Luke’s Center for Community Health Counseling Scholarship Fund will receive $41,000 to reduce financial barriers that prevent access to counseling.
• Mindfulness Education – A three-year, $35,000 per year investment in the Hailey-based Flourish Foundation will help expand mindfulness programs in Blaine County K-2 classrooms. The grant will also support a teacher mindfulness cohort, bringing 12 educators together for a 9-month program focused on their mental well-being.
• Benchmarking – The MWBI will join the Katz Amsterdam Foundation’s Shared Measurement Framework which tracks and compares behavioral health data across eight mountain resort communities in the western U.S. This will allow the MWBI to track and compare progress to similar mountain communities.

What’s next?

We are just getting started. Partner organizations and community members are identifying ways to achieve our shared vision. The MWBI will continue to act as a catalyst for change, including leading the effort to collectively raise the funding necessary to make meaningful improvement to our community’s mental well-being.

Achieving meaningful and lasting success will require engagement and investment from community partners and leaders, along with continued support from all county residents. We invite everyone who cares about the health and well-being of our community to stay engaged and look for opportunities to contribute your time, talent, and resources as we create an ecosystem of mental well-being.

Learn more

You can find more information about the Mental Well-Being Initiative HERE, including the “Roadmap,” Community Partner Pledge, community data sources, an introduction to the collective impact approach, and examples of mental health initiatives in other mountain towns.

For more information about Blaine County’s Mental Well-Being Initiative Email Project Manager Jenna Vagias