Transforming lives: Lost&Found’s response to the mental health crisis in South Dakota
In the aftermath of several devastating disasters and an ongoing mental health crisis that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Lost&Found, an organization that aims to do more to eliminate suicide among young adults in the United States, recognized an urgent need to expand its mental health services in western South Dakota.
The region faces chronic, critical shortages in the mental health workforce and education resources, and suicide rates are on the rise. Lost&Found stepped in to address these challenges by expanding the capacity for suicide prevention and postvention services and by providing support to historically underserved populations, including low-to-moderate income, Indigenous and rural families and those with children.
With help from a CDP Midwest Early Recovery Fund grant, Lost&Found made substantial strides in addressing these needs. The grant allowed the organization to maintain its core services and establish partnerships with 47 health care and resource providers in the Black Hills. This enhanced its postvention services, which included offering vital support to 15 families through its Survivors Joining for Hope program.
The partnership also supported expanding the Peer2Peer Mentorship program at the South Dakota School of Mines, which included support for LGBTQIA+, rural and Indigenous students. Lost&Found provided comprehensive training to peer mentors and laid the groundwork for lasting collaboration with key partners, such as Student Affairs and Counseling at Mines.
“Lost&Found’s Campus Postvention services have been an invaluable resource for a campus that prioritizes community and culture like South Dakota Mines. Lost&Found provided the perfect blend of pre-existing structure and space for our staff team to begin the process of creating a custom Postvention Guide for our campus. The end result is a comprehensive, compassionate and sensitive checklist that campus officials can use in the event that our campus community ever loses a student or employee.
We feel confident that in following the Postvention Guide every step of any tragedy will be handled with the utmost care and respect while still navigating complex logistics and details. We believe the Postvention Guide will be a trusted document and part of our crisis management strategy for the foreseeable future.” – Joseph Dlugos, Associate Vice President for Student Development, SD School of Mines
Through this grant, Lost&Found trained more than 2,700 residents across western South Dakota, exceeding expectations and creating new partnerships with organizations such as United Way of the Black Hills and the South Dakota Department of Social Services. These partnerships have strengthened Lost&Found’s ability to provide community training on mental health, suicide prevention and postvention resources.
The support from CDP also played a pivotal role in bridging funding gaps left by the suspended Community Health Worker program, allowing Lost&Found to secure new funding sources and continue its critical work.
“This grant is responsible for saving many lives, and it kept our organization operating in western South Dakota. Its impact on families losing loved ones to suicide has been profound, and to that end, CDP’s partnership was essential in holding the line in western South Dakota in a year that included a 30-day span with 12 suicide deaths,” said Erik Muckey, Executive Director of Lost&Found.
At CDP, we are proud to support organizations like Lost&Found, whose work aligns with our goal of advancing the equitable and long-term recovery of marginalized communities after disaster. This partnership provided immediate relief and created a foundation for long-term sustainability in mental health services for western South Dakota. By investing in communities that need it most, we are helping to create lasting change in the face of ongoing challenges.
