'Toolkit' To Support Youth Mental Health Now Online In Monmouth

MONMOUTH COUNTY, NJ — The Parent/Caregiver’s Toolkit: Guide to Navigating Youth Behavioral Health is now in a new digital version, available in Monmouth County and developed by the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide, based in Freehold.

The digital toolkit debuted in Monmouth County on Friday, March 1, and is "a vital resource" to support area families and youth, giving caregivers more information about what to do, ask, and expect if their child is experiencing behavioral health concerns, the society says.

And the Monmouth launch is just the first step, said Kyle Kalbach, a spokesman for the organization.

As funding becomes available, the online resource will be able to be accessed by people in every county in the state, he said.

The Monmouth digital resource was funded by an award to SPTS by Impact 100: Jersey Coast, he added.

From its base in Freehold, the society has grown in the services it provides, said Kalbach, especially in the COVID period that saw increasing rates of behavioral health issues, such as depression and anxiety.

The society by last year provided the physical toolkit book to every sixth-grader in the state, under a state initiative also funded by the state, he said. There is also an online suicide prevention program for educators the society offers that is used nationally, he added.

The Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide, Inc. (SPTS) is a public charity, incorporated in 2005, founded by two Monmouth County fathers who each experienced the devastating loss of a teenage child by suicide, according to the organization.

SPTS is a holistic program, it says, dedicated to increasing awareness, saving lives and reducing the stigma of suicide through specialized training programs and mental health resources that help youth build a life of resiliency. SPTS is focused on comprehensive youth suicide prevention for ages 5 to 18.

“The Parent/Caregiver Toolkit includes vital information for parents to have while navigating behavioral and mental health issues with their child. It works to ease anxiety and worry that parents and caregivers may experience during this difficult time by providing specific information on behavioral and mental health,” the society's Clinical Director Susan Tellone said.

The new online resource consolidates many local, national and online resources, providing "a one-stop destination for families seeking guidance and assistance."

Here are examples of the information provided to parents and caregivers:

• Warning signs of suicide.
• How to have difficult conversations with their children.
• Local support groups, national helplines, or online forums.

"This toolkit has all of the important information needed to help keep children safe. It serves as a roadmap of information, eliminating the need to spend additional energy searching for resources online and streamlining the process of finding the right support," the organization says.

The digital toolkit is available in nine languages and is accessible on both desktops and mobile devices.

"The SPTS Parent/Caregiver Toolkit helped my family through a difficult time by providing us with definitions of terms we did not know, information on local resources including how to access the New Jersey Children's System of Care, and helped ease our anxiety in regards to seeking support for our loved one," said Stacy Brief, a licensed clinical social worker and mental health advocate.

And now the physical toolkit is more accessible, in its digital form:

Any individual interested in accessing the toolkit can do so through this interest form: https://forms.gle/UcUnh3aWu7Dabw3bA. Once the form is in place, the user will receive a code to access the toolkit (monmouthcounty). Then the user can go to SPTStoolkit.org and create an account to get the prompt for the code and access the toolkit.

Keep updated with SPTS by following it on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

And remember, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is a hotline for individuals in crisis or for those looking to help someone else. To speak with a trained listener, call 988. Visit 988lifeline.org for crisis chat services or for more information.