Nevada’s Caring Contacts Wins Behavioral Health Recovery Innovation Challenge

One of ten winners in the inaugural event, nationwide

Carson City October 05, 2022

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Western Nevada’s Caring Contacts Program has been announced as one of 10 winners of the nationwide Behavioral Health Recovery Innovation Challenge. Created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the goal of the challenge was to identify innovations developed by peer-run or community-based organizations that advance recovery.

“This is not only a recognition of the work NAMI Western Nevada is doing in peer support, but also a recognition of what Nevada is doing to move mental health forward for the state,” said Laura Yanez, Executive Director for NAMI Western Nevada. “The ultimate goal of this program is to reduce trauma when an individual is experiencing suicidality, reduce hospitalization, and ultimately save lives.”

Nevada Caring Contacts is funded through grants from the Division of Public and Behavioral Health (DPBH). It was started based on the success of the Nevada Warmline, a one-on-one peer support line for Nevadans living with mental illness that has since expanded to add the Nevada Teen Peer Support Text Line. The Nevada Caring Contacts program is a specialized branch of the Warmline and Teen Text Line that is peer-built, peer-led, and peer-delivered.

The program was developed by a group of peers who are suicide-attempt survivors and who aim to make a change in the prevention and postvention care in Nevada based on what they would have wanted in their darkest moments of suicidality and crisis.

“Knowing I had a person on the receiving end of a difficult conversation who understood the why and did not judge, someone who supported my choices and did not disregard them,” said Cherylyn Rahr-Wood, Regional Behavioral Health Coordinator. “Someone who truly listened with compassion and empathy and met me where I was, is the person who got me through another day and helped me to focus on myself and my treatment. This is what the Nevada Caring Contacts program is designed to do and more.”

The Recovery Innovation Challenge was announced in May during Mental Health Awareness Month, and SAMHSA received more than 350 submissions from peer-run and community-based organizations across the country. Challenge participants were encouraged to share details about the practices they use to advance recovery and to demonstrate how these practices either expand upon SAMHSA’s definition of recovery or help them overcome challenges in incorporating recovery into their behavioral health services or systems.

 
Caring Contacts has worked in partnership with DPBH, assisting in gaps in analysis, finding funding opportunities, and supporting the State’s Crisis Response System for virtual crisis care. They have also worked hand-in-hand with the Office of Suicide Prevention (OSP) for warmlines and provider handoffs regarding Zero Suicide.

“The State has really worked as a major partner with Caring Contacts in getting this program off the ground,” said Rahr-Wood. “I really think this has been like a village coming together to make this work.”

The 10 SAMHSA Recovery Innovation Challenge winners will each receive $40,000 in prize money:
• Nevada Caring Contacts
• Seattle Indian Health Board
• D. Wood Foundation
• Maternity Care Coalition
• Chainless Change
• The Women’s Home
• Voices of Hope
• Center for Alternative Sentencing & Employment Services (CASES) and N.Y. Justice Peer Initiative (joint application)
• Progress House
• Hushabye Nursery

You can watch the Nevada Caring Contact Program video for the Innovation Challenge here. If you or someone you know is in crisis, you can contact the Nevada Warmline at (775) 241-4212 and the Teen Warmline at (775) 296-8336.

Contact

Kendall Holcomb
Public Information Officer, Division of Public and Behavioral Health