Supervisors Want To Fund Brostoff-Inspired Suicide Prevention Training

Ald. Jonathan Brostoff at Charter Meeting. Photo taken April 16, 2024 by Sophie Bolich.

Milwaukee County supervisors want to put county funding beyond a suicide prevention program started in the name of late alderman Jonathan Brostoff.

A new board resolution asks the county’s mental health board to allocate $150,000 to the “We Can Save Lives” tour, a suicide-prevention training program providing free “SafeTALK” suicide training for people to help them understand and assist people in their lives who may be suicidal.

The tour was started by Levi Stein, executive director of The Friendship Circle of Wisconsin, licensed SafeTALK trainer and a good friend of the alderman, following Brostoff’s November suicide. The tour, which launched last year, consists of 41 scheduled stops in honor of Brostoff’s age when he died. The next training is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 14 at the Autism Society of Southeastern Wisconsin in Wauwatosa.

The resolution is sponsored by Sup. Kathleen Vincent, who has used her office to advocate for mental health awareness and support. In 2023, Vincent publicly stated that she has a mental health diagnosis: bipolar disorder; and that she has attempted to take her own life in the past.

“Funding for the ‘We Can Save Lives Tour’ from the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services would provide up to four SafeTALK suicide prevention trainings and two teen support groups, as well as providing support for related community work that The Friendship Circle does in Milwaukee County,” her resolution states.

The resolution also suggests that collaborating with the county’s Behavioral Health Services will give The Friendship Circle’s existing suicide prevention programming greater reach in the community.

The board does not have the authority to appropriate funds for mental health programming, following 2013 Wisconsin Act 203, so the resolution asks the Mental Health Board to allocate the funds instead.

The resolution has co-sponsorship from supervisors Sheldon Wasserman, Steve Taylor, Patti Logsdon and Anne O’Connor.

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