This Mental Health Awareness Month, we’re inviting our community to take part in the Wellness Through Connection BINGO Challenge - a fun and meaningful way to build connection, strengthen belonging, and support mental wellness throughout May.

Step 1: Get Your BINGO Card

Download a printable or virtual BINGO card from our website. Cards are available in multiple languages, and social media tools are also available to help spread the message.

Step 2: Complete Small Acts of Connection

Throughout May, complete simple activities that encourage connection and belonging! 

Step 3: Get BINGO and Submit Your Card

Complete a row, column, or diagonal to get BINGO and submit your completed card for a chance to win a gift basket at the end of the month. Bonus points for completing the entire card!

Connection matters. Let’s build a healthier, more connected community together.

Click below to get your BINGO card!

The Connection and the Winnebago County Overdose Fatality Review (OFR) Team are partnering to offer a new four-part training series this fall: Preventing Deaths of Despair: Clinical, Systems, and Human Approaches.

Continuing Medical Education (CMEs) will be available, and Connection Members will receive a discounted registration rate for the full series. Click here for information on how to become a member! 

Designed for health care providers, social workers, behavioral health professionals, and front-line staff, this in-person series will explore how traumatic brain injury, ADHD, pain, and sleep issues can increase risk for suicide, overdose, and alcohol-related deaths.

Each session will combine clinical education, systems awareness, and lived experience to help participants strengthen prevention, screening, and intervention skills while deepening understanding of the human impact of this work.

Dates & Topics

• Sept. 3 -  Traumatic Brain Injury and Risk of Deaths of Despair
• Sept. 15 - ADHD, Executive Function, and Increased Risk
• Sept. 30 -  Pain, Coping, and Alcohol-Related Harm
• Oct. 15 - When Sleep Becomes a Warning Sign: Insomnia, Overdose Risk, and Suicide Prevention

Sessions will take place from 5–6:30 p.m., with optional networking afterward.

Additional details, locations, registration information, and CME details will be announced soon. For now, we encourage providers and community partners to save the dates.

Join us for an upcoming training, Addressing Crisis Needs for Minoritized Youth. This interactive session explores how bias and systemic disparities impact crisis response for minoritized youth, who are often overrepresented in youth justice systems despite a growing emphasis on trauma-informed care. Participants will examine how decision-making within the helping professions can reinforce inequities and identify their role in creating more equitable, effective service delivery.

Through dialogue, small group discussion, and applied practice exercises, participants will build skills to better support minoritized youth in crisis and strengthen approaches that center equity and understanding. This training is free for Connection members, but advance registration is required. Visit our CEU training page for details and registration.