JACKSON, Wyo. — The Community Foundation of Jackson Hole announced Wednesday that the Teton Interagency Peer Support (TIPS) was recently awarded $100,000 in grant funding from the Wyoming Department of Health (WHD) to educate, prevent and respond to mental health emergencies among first responders and law enforcement.
“This grant will cover the operational budget of TIPS, enabling first responders in our community to receive the training and support they need to ensure their own mental health and well-being,” Kate Schelbe, backbone leader of Teton Behavioral Health Alliance said. “On a larger scale, being awarded this grant signifies that what we’re doing at the local level is being recognized at the state level as an innovative and effective model to support first responders.”
In 2022 alone, TIPS provided 1,500 peer support connections and access to 324 sessions with mental health professionals. TIPS also provided the base programming for psychological first aid, allowing first responders all over the valley to be trained to help those involved in accidents understand stress injuries and how and when they may affect you.
“TIPS is a critical link in keeping Teton County’s first responders ‘rescue ready’ giving them the tools they need to stay healthy and focused on the difficult jobs that they perform for our community,” Teton County Sheriff Matt Carr said.
TIPS, which serves all first responders in Teton County, is funded by a combination of private donations and funding commitments by cooperating agencies.
TIPS began in the fall of 2018 as local first responders were becoming aware that stress injuries could occur in the field, but they didn’t have the tools or network to adequately treat them. Acceptance of this issue made it clear that stress injuries needed treatment programs just like physical injuries, and that simply ‘toughing it out’ could do lasting damage. TIPS was born to better serve local first responders by providing a network of mental health support.
As of June 1, the administration of TIPS shifted from Teton County Search and Rescue Foundation to the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole.
For more information on the program or to see how you can support TIPS, please visit www.tetontips.org.
