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Prevention Perk


The Mid-America Prevention Technology Transfer Center (Mid-America PTTC) is designed to serve as a prevention catalyst, empowering individuals and fostering partnerships to promote safe, healthy, and drug-free communities across Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas. Our services are evidence-based, culturally competent, and locally focused. We provide intensive technical assistance to support organizations' and systems' efforts to implement evidence-based prevention strategies. The Mid-America PTTC also forms partnerships with local and regional stakeholders to ensure that the training needs of the region are identified and met.

The Mid-America PTTC goals are:

  • Accelerate the adoption and implementation of evidence-based and promising substance misuse prevention strategies.
  • Heighten the awareness, knowledge, and skills of the workforce that addresses substance misuse prevention.
  • Foster regional and national alliances among culturally diverse practitioners, researchers, policymakers, funders, and local communities.

May 2, 2023

Sara Kohlbeck is the Director of the Division of Suicide Prevention at the Comprehensive Injury Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin. In her role, Sara works with collaborators around the State of Wisconsin to research, develop, implement, and evaluate strategies for suicide prevention. Her work currently focuses on suicide prevention among veterans as well as farmers and marginalized populations, including Black and Latinx individuals living in urban areas. Sara is also a PhD Candidate in the Institute for Health and Equity at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Her dissertation research is focused on better understanding farmer suicide through qualitative methods, including photovoice. Sara received her Master’s in Public Health from the Zilber School of Public Health at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and her Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Sara currently lives in Milwaukee, WI with her husband, Aaron, her two children, Grace and Harrison, and her rescue dogs, Brisco and Ollie.

·       Links: www.afsp.org

·       Podcast:@mcwsuicideprev

The funder of this project, along with all other products of the Mid-America PTTC is the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Although funded by SAMHSA, the content of this recording does not necessarily reflect the views of SAMHSA. You’ll find several resources about suicide on the SAMHSA website, to learn more visit https://www.samhsa.gov/suicide

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org There are a wealth of resources available about 988 on the SAMHSA website. The more we know the better equipped we are to save a life. There’s a link in the show notes or search SAMHSA 988 https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/988