Jackson, Wyo. — In a sign of its success and value to the Jackson Hole community, management of Teton Interagency Peer Support, commonly known as TIPS, is being moved from Teton County Search & Rescue Foundation to the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole. This means that all future administration and fundraising will go through the Community Foundation, which is in an excellent position to run the program for several coordinating agencies.
The Stress Continuum is yet one tool that TIPS uses as a mental health check-in.
"TIPS provides a critical support system for our local first responders, who are experiencing a range of traumatic experiences in service to our community," Community Foundation President Laurie Andrews said. "The Community Foundation's Behavioral Health Initiative's administration of TIPS will ensure that our first responders continue to receive the support services they need."
TIPS began in the fall of 2018. At the time, 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 similar to physical injuries, and that simply ‘toughing it out’ could do lasting damage to a person and their relationships. TIPS was born to better serve local first responders by providing a network of mental health support.
In 2022 alone, TIPS provided 1,500 peer support connections and access to 324 sessions with mental health professionals.
"The TIPS program has been instrumental in elevating the importance of supporting our fellow first responders after traumatic rescues occur,” said TCSAR volunteer Ethan Lobdell. “TIPS seeks to establish a safety net for our friends and family members who make up the first responder community. Its goal is to make sure none of us succumbs to the negative mental health outcomes that can be associated with exposure to traumatic events. Our community is stronger, our futures brighter, and our first responder teams more prepared to engage with the critical work they do because of the TIPS support program."
TIPS has 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 to understand stress injuries and how and when they may affect you.
TIPS, which serves all first responders in Teton County, Wyo., is funded by a combination of private donations and through funding commitments by the cooperating agencies.
For more information on the program or to see how you can support TIPS, please visit www.tetontips.com.
The announcement of TIPS coincides with May being recognized as Mental Health Awareness Month, a nationwide initiative intended to raise the importance of mental health while removing the stigma surrounding it. For more information, visit the National Alliance on Mental Illness.