About Our Work
The Rice County Chemical and Mental Health Coalition (RCCMHC) formed in 2018 to address the overlap between chemical and mental health among community members. The coalition merged the efforts of the former Rice County Chemical Health Coalition (established in 2004) and the Rice County Mental Health Collective (established in 2011). The resulting coalition welcomes representatives from all sectors of the community.
Action Teams
Several action teams made up of professionals and/or community members work closely with the Coalition. Learn more about them here:
Provides advice, support, and guidance as the Coalition implements strategies to meet its mission goals. The group meets quarterly.
Contact: rccmhc@healthycommunityinitiative.org
Current Advisory Board Members:
- Dante Hummel-Langerfeld, Rice County Behavioral Health Services, dhummellangerfeld@co.rice.mn.us
- Dawn Steffan, Allina Medical Faribault, dawn.steffen@allina.com
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Deb Purfeerst, Rice County Public Health, dpurfeerst@co.rice.mn.us
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Janet Lewis Muth, Faribault Public Schools, jlewismuth@faribault.k12.mn.us
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Kelli Nowak, HealthFinders Collaborative, nowak.kelli@healthfindersmn.org
- Kelli Podracky, Northfield Union of Youth – The Key, kelli@unionofyouth.org
- Heather Stanton-Ims, Northfield Public Schools, hstantonims@
northfieldschools.org
Raises community awareness about local youth substance use and makes recommendations for community interventions to reduce youth use. The group meets monthly.
Partners: High School Youth, Parents, Law Enforcement, and Community Members
Staff Contact: Meleah Follen, meleah@healthycommunityinitiative.org
Works to identify and address gaps in opioid use prevention, harm reduction strategies, treatment, and crisis services. This group meets quarterly.
Harm reduction strategies are evidence-based interventions that serve to reduce overdose deaths and infectious disease transmission. Learn more here.
Partners: Law Enforcement, Health Care, Behavioral Health, Emergency Response, Corrections, Human Services, Youth Services, Judicial
Staff contact: rccmhc@healthycommunityinitiative.org
The purpose of an OFR is to effectively identify system gaps and innovative community-specific overdose prevention and intervention strategies. In practice, OFRs involve a series of confidential individual death reviews by a multidisciplinary team.
This group meets quarterly.
Prevention Partnerships for Healthy Youth (PPHY) is an action team of the Rice County Chemical and Mental Health Coalition who work to empower youth and families of color to drive, inspire, and own community efforts to prevent and reduce substance use. This partnership is a made possible by a grant from the Minnesota Department of Human Services. Learn more here.
Partners: Faribault Public Schools, Rice County Chemical and Mental Health Coalition
Grant Coordinator: Angie Ramirez Saucedo
aramirez@faribault.k12.mn.us
Works to determine gaps and increase access to mental and chemical health prevention, early intervention, and treatment services for all populations in Rice County. The Provider Team meets quarterly.
Partners: Mental Health, Chemical Health, Health Care, Youth Services, Human Services, Transitional Housing
Staff Contact: rccmhc@healthycommunityinitiative.org
The Substance Misuse and Suicide Prevention Coalition is multi-sectored and community driven. The coalition has a focus on prevention while taking a comprehensive approach to prevent substance misuse and suicide experiences in youth ages 10 – 24. As a community driven comprehensive prevention plan is developed, the coalition will assist with its implementation.
Partners:
Contact: Molly Titchenal, molly@healthycommunityinitiative.org
Current Initiatives
The Rice County Chemical and Mental Health Coalition focuses on many important initiatives within the Chemical and Mental Health spaces.
Recovery in the Park
This fun, family friendly, and chemically-free event builds connections between those affected by substance use, their friends and family, and supportive agencies.
Mental Health First Aid Training
This 8-hour training teaches how to help individuals who may be experiencing a mental health crisis. It helps adults identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illness or substance abuse. Both Youth and Adult MHFA trainings are available for free in English and Spanish in Rice County.
Reduction and Awareness of Vaping and E-Cigarette Use (RAVE)
RAVE seeks to amplify and center the voices of young people; Our student leadership team is made up of middle school and high school students from Faribault and Northfield who work to increase the number of students in Rice County who choose not to vape.