You’re constantly bombarded with media telling you how you can get fit, eat better, and improve your physical health — but what about your mental health? Mental health is just as ( if not more) important than physical health, but it tends to fall by the wayside when dreaming up self-improvement to-do lists. Make mental health a priority in 2017 by incorporating these 10 habits into your plans for the new year.

By: Amy Donaldson, Deseret News

Cook said Speedy not only came to her house to give her daily updates on all of his experiences as a competitor, but he gained worldwide attention when he wrote “Hi, Emily” on his gloves and flashed them at the camera.

“He came to my house and told me all the tiny details,” she said, adding that she wears his belt “on the hill every day” as a tribute to him, just as he wrote on his gloves as a tribute to her. “We celebrated the Olympics in a different way.”

How to curb Utah’s teen-suicide rate? Hatch-convened roundtable says kids needs access to mental-health services

By Alex Stuckey | The Salt Lake Tribune

Republican state Sen. Daniel Thatcher was 11 years old when he lost his first classmate to suicide. He was 16 when he lost his close friend.

That's why, he says, it's so important to drop the stigma and talk about suicide.

"If you talk to someone, they live," Thatcher, from West Valley City, said. "If you connect them to support, they live."

Hatch convenes suicide-prevention conference

By Lois M. Collins & Lauren Fields | Deseret News

“We’ve made more progress in the last five years than in the 20 years before,” Dr. Doug Gray, a psychiatrist, professor and suicidologist at the University of Utah, told the audience at the roundtable, held at East High in Salt Lake City.

MASSACHUSETTS: Flying Away from Stigma: Logan Exhibit Displays Stories of Mental Illness

The Boston Globe
A new exhibit at Boston's Logan Airport aims to reduce the negative bias associated with mental illness by sharing the images and stories of those who have been intimately affected by it. A collaboration between the psychiatric institution McLean Hospital and several mental health organizations, "Deconstructing Stigma: A Change in Thought Can Change a Life" displays photographs and interviews with people who have experienced a variety of mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, addiction, and suicide. Participants, who represent a range of sociodemographic backgrounds, seek to convey the challenges of living with mental illness, but also the opportunities for healing and resilience. Sean Shinnock, who shares his story of living with obsessive-compulsive disorder, said, "I hope that somebody who may be hurting gets a little solace, that they know they're not alone." 

With Christmas just around the corner, holidays and catch ups can be a time to relax and enjoy being with friends and family, but it can also be a time when feelings of loneliness, personal struggles, conflict and loss surface and make us feel vulnerable. Leading into the festive season, we're asking everyone to take one action every day to help create a more connected world.

Watch this video to hear how R U OK? Ambassador and media personality Ita Buttrose is getting involved by sharing her Christmas dinner with someone who doesn't have anywhere to go.

The Speedy Foundation has joined forces with the Great Hearts Community, which helps people live the giving life they envision.

Bipolar disorder affects nearly six million adults in the U.S., and many studies have been done in an effort to try and pinpoint where it begins and why. It’s not so easy to understand, however, and it is even harder to study in young people because the symptoms sometimes mimic natural emotional changes that come with growing up.

How important is social connectivity to health?

Social connectivity – spending time with friends and family, taking part in group activities or having a sense of community – may be among the most important predictors of health.

Study upon study shows the myriad ways human connection plays a valuable role in positively supporting a person’s physical and mental health. 

Having strong social ties has been shown to:

• Dramatically lower rates of disease and premature death. Those who lacked supportive relationships had a fourfold increased risk of dying six months after open heart surgery.
• Improve our long-term happiness. People’s happiness correlates to the happiness of others with whom they are connected – and people who are surrounded by happy people are more likely to be happy in the future.
• Decrease stress during major life transitions. Higher levels of happiness and optimism were associated with lower levels of stress and greater increases in perceived social support during life transitions.
• Support recovery. One study showed that higher scores on the Recovery Assessment Scale were related to both social support as well as engagement in activities.

And, the quality of our social networks has a lifetime impact on well-being as we age. 

On Tuesday, December 13, 2016, President Obama signed the 21st Century Cures Act remarking that "those of us called upon to lead this country have a duty" to stand by the families and communities struggling with addiction. The significant funding included in the bill will help fight the ongoing opioid crisis, authorizing $1 billion in grants to states over the next two years.

Jennifer McGregor is a pre-med student who knows how difficult it can be to sift through the mountains of health-related information on the web. She created Public Health Library to help people find reputable information on health topics. 

www.publichealthlibrary.org

Frances Moody, The Park Record

The Speedy Foundation works to prevent suicides

Olympic aerial skier Jeret “Speedy” Peterson was a passionate person.

Even though he accomplished much during the 29 years he lived, Peterson sometimes let his strong emotions manifest in negative ways. Stuck in the darkness of depression, the outgoing athlete took his own life in Park City in 2011.

The Speedy Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing suicide, was named after and created for Peterson, who participated in three Olympics, won a FIS world title and set a world record score for aerial skiing.

“The Speedy Foundation was created in the wake of a much-needed conversation that one person was trying to have,” said Shannon Decker, the organization’s executive director. “After his death, we realized that the conversation Speedy was trying to have was rooted in stigma and misinformation.”

Based in Boise, Idaho, and in Park City, the nonprofit raises money to support mental health education. It also uses funds to conduct outreach regarding mental health advocacy.

“The Speedy Foundation acts as an advocate and educational center on topics of mental illness, adverse childhood experiences, toxic stress and trauma,” Decker said. “These are topics that impact all communities around the world.

Decker said the main goal of the foundation is to let those in situations similar to Speedy’s know it’s OK to talk about depression and mental illness.

“There needed to be a voice out there saying, ‘it’s OK to talk about the things that are hard to talk about,’” Decker said. “It’s OK to talk about depression, anxiety, substance use, abuse, neglect, daily struggles, disappointment, challenging transitions, etc.”

The Speedy Foundation works with the Utah Suicide Prevention Coalition and the Summit County Suicide Prevention Coalition to continue the conversation Speedy started.

Decker said the funds it receives from Live PC Give PC will go to Mental Health First Aid and QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) training programs in the Park City area.

“Once we honestly confront the problem, we can begin to learn and practice resilience strategies and share hope in the lives of those around us.”

More facts on the foundation can be found at http://www.thespeedyfoundation.org. Live PC Give PC donations to the organization can be made at livepcgivepc.razoo.com.

By Travis Barton, My City Journals

The Speedy Foundation teamed up with Optum on Sept. 24 to offer a free Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) course at the Salt Lake County offices in West Valley City. MHFA is an eight-hour course training participants how to identify the common signs of mental illness including depression, anxiety disorders and substance use...“Mental health is not restricted to a particular age group,” Stewart said about traumatic experiences affecting all ages. 

Youth mental health classes are also offered for people who regularly interact with adolescents who may be experiencing mental health or addiction challenges. 

These classes have become increasingly important in light of a July report from the Utah Department of Health (UDH) stating that suicide is the leading cause of death in Utah for 10- to 17-year-olds. 

“We’re in a major youth suicide crisis right now…we need to really hit home in our schools and anywhere we can,” Flood said, adding that the class is great for parents, counselors and educators. 

Often times mental health issues can be misjudged as anxiety, stress or being overdramatic, especially in teens Emery said. 

“It took me two years to realize that it wasn’t typical teenage rebellion,” Emery said of the experience with her daughter. 

Flood said the class shows participants the signs between typical and atypical teenage behavior. 

“You can see where a typical teenager will always go on their roller coaster ride to really seeing the signs of isolating and if they’re getting involved with alcohol and drugs,” Flood said. 

Severity and time are two of the most important things to look for according to Emery. 

“That lets you know it’s not a situational issue,” Emery said. 

By Associated Press, Idaho Business Review

Tyler Neill has been appointed board president for the Speedy Foundation.

Neill, an attorney in Boise, co-founded The Speedy Foundation.  He was close friend of Jeret “Speedy” Peterson, the three-time Olympian for whom the foundation was named.

Neill graduated from College of Idaho in 2004 with degrees in politics & economics and history, and received his law degree from the University of Idaho College of Law in 2007. He received an MS in education/sport psychology from University of Idaho in 2008.  Prior to working as an attorney, Tyler was the head women’s tennis coach and associate director of compliance for the University of Idaho. He served as treasurer of The Speedy Foundation board from July 2011 to March 2015.

The foundation is a nonprofit organization created in 2011 with the mission of preventing suicide, promoting conversations to end stigma, and supporting mental health education. The Speedy Foundation raises funds for, and collaborates with, other advocacy groups.

Natalie Shaver, KTVB

NAMPA - An award-winning documentary that tackles behavioral health issues in children and teens is coming to Idaho to educate the community on the topic.

Optum Idaho, the Idaho Children's Trust Fund, The Speedy Foundation and the Idaho Federation of Families worked together to bring in the free screening of "Paper Tigers." 

The film follows the lives of some struggling high school students attending an alternative school in Walla Walla, Washington. While they were there the school changed the way it disciplined the students' behaviors by taking a more positive approach.

The documentary also provides insight into how traumatic childhood experiences can impact someone's adult life. That's why event organizers say they want to start a conversation and educate people to make a change.

"It takes a system to make change, to make positive change," Optum Idaho's executive director Georganne Benjamin said. "The positive response from the community really shows that people want to improve, want to do things differently and better."

Wednesday's screening of "Paper Tigers" is at 6:30 p.m at the Nampa Civic Center. 

By Tansi Propst, Park Record

Alyssa Mitchell, a health educator with the Summit County Health Department, said the Summit County Health Department formed a Suicide Coalition nearly two years ago with representatives from school districts, Valley Behavioral Health and the community at large. One of the group’s main goals right now is the Question, Persuade and Refer program, also known as QPR.

Mitchell said more than 900 students have been reached through the QPR training throughout the various school districts.

“It’s an unfortunate growing trend and here in Summit County we tend to be right with the rest of the state,” Mitchell said. “We are about 16.4 per population of 100,000 people, which is not far off of the state’s 20, and firearms deaths are particularly high here.

“We have recognized that there is a problem for a couple of years now,” Mitchell said. “We are trying to implement some programs to see if we can start getting that number to go down and we just received the mental health survey so hopefully from the data that we get it will help us improve our efforts as well.”

For a copy of the Suicide in Utah report visit http://www.health.utah.gov/vipp. For more information on suicide prevention visit http://utahsuicideprevention.org or call the Statewide CrisisLine at 801-587-3000 or the National Suicide Prevention LifeLine at 1-800-273-TALK.

Photo from right, Jacob Dolph, Matt and Megan Provost, among others, hold signs along Park Ave. near Jans Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016. The group waved to passing cars, encouraging them to honk if they're happy and to smile.

Betsy Z. Russell, The Spokesman-Review - Eye on Boise

BOISE – Idaho’s suicide rate has long been far above the national average; the state had the 9th highest suicide rate in the country in 2014.

But now, it has something it didn’t have then: A state Office of Suicide Prevention, ongoing state funding for the state’s 24/7 suicide prevention hotline, and an array of groups committed to carrying out a coordinated statewide suicide prevention plan.

State lawmakers this year agreed to create the new state agency, allocated nearly $1 million in ongoing funding, and changed the law that governs the mission of the state Department of Health and Welfare to specifically include suicide prevention.

Advocates celebrated Thursday on the steps of Boise City Hall, where Mayor Dave Bieter issued a proclamation declaring this week Suicide Prevention Week in Boise, and paid tribute to all those who worked to make it happen, including the Speedy Foundation, which formed after Boise native Jaret “Speedy” Peterson, an Olympic silver medalist in 2010 in freestyle skiing, took his own life while battling depression in 2011. The foundation works to prevent suicide, promote conversation to end stigma, and support mental health education.

Kim Kane, director of the new state Office of Suicide Prevention, said, “I think they played important roles in public awareness.”

Nate Fisher, executive director of the Idaho Suicide Prevention Coalition, said when he spoke with legislators, many said they or their families or friends had been affected by suicide. “The stats in Idaho are alarming,” Fisher said. “In talking with legislators about it, almost to a person, they had a story.

Anna Silver, KIVI-TV

BOISE, Idaho - Boise Mayor Dave Bieter has proclaimed this week – Sept. 5 through Sept. 11 -- as Suicide Prevention Week.   

Suicide awareness has also been the focus of a collaboration by a task force created by Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter and the Speedy Foundation. 

As a young student, Jaret "Speedy" Peterson made a tile of artwork proclaiming that someday he would win an olympic medal.

The aerial skier went on become a three-time olympian who won the silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

The Speedy Foundation was formed in 2011, after "Speedy" took his own life. .

The governor’s task force worked with the Speedy Foundation to form the Suicide Prevention Coalition, which successfully lobbied for funding to launch Idaho's Suicide Prevention Hotline. The hotline is now available 24/7 and is expanding into social media.

Shannon Camp, KTVB

BOISE -- Thursday afternoon, state and community leaders gathered outside Boise City Hall to celebrate the collective efforts that are underway to help prevent suicide in Idaho.

“One of the reasons we love living in Boise and in Idaho is people reach out and help each other but they've really done some amazing things,” said Boise Mayor David Bieter.

The event was co-hosted by the City of Boise and The Speedy Foundation, an organization created to raise awareness about mental health after the suicide of Olympic skier Jeret “Speedy” Peterson in 2011.

“It just feels wonderful to have your family support you and that's what Boise is, Boise is just a giant family,” said Shannon Decker, executive director of The Speedy Foundation.

In the past five years The Speedy Foundation has helped spearhead the creation of Idaho's first suicide coalition, a group that has lobbied together for more state funding for its collective cause.

By Zach Kyle | Idaho Statesman

MAYOR DAVID BIETER NAMED SEPT. 5 THROUGH 11 SUICIDE PREVENTION WEEK IN THE CITY.

In 2011, Boise lost three-time Olympic skier Jeret “Speedy” Peterson to suicide. His family launched The Speedy Foundation nonprofit to combat suicide. The executive director of the foundation, Shannon Decker, said at the news conference that each person can contribute by volunteering or donating to a suicide prevention organization, or by reaching out to someone needing help.

“There is hope,” she said. “There is help. There is recovery.”

Idaho Suicide Prevention Hotline, Idaho Suicide Prevention Coalition and the Office of Suicide Prevention to share updates since 2011 launch of prevention initiatives.