Who We Are

MISSION

Lead a coalition of diverse stakeholders to champion mental health for everyone in the Fox Cities by addressing barriers, challenging systems, creating solutions, and prioritizing care and support

VISION

A community that is resilient, connected and mentally well

The Northeast Wisconsin Mental Health Connection (aka “The Connection”) is a collaboration of dues-paying members who are committed to improving the mental health of our community by: developing long-term systemic improvements to our mental health system of care; leading innovative initiatives focused on population-level suicide prevention and mental health promotion; and addressing emerging mental health needs within our community.

Since its inception in 2011, The Connection has grown into a robust, more than 80-member strong organization that has leveraged more than $10 million in funding to carry out community-level work focused on improving the mental wellbeing of ALL residents in Calumet, Outagamie and Winnebago counties. 

Our funding comes membership and sponsor fees, private and public grants for support of infrastructure and initiatives, and in-kind support. We are not a granting organization, but rather we support joint grant seeking opportunities by encouraging collaboration among service providers on systems-level projects to accomplish work that can only be done by all of us together.

Our member organizations from across the tri-county region represent a variety of community sectors, including health systems, mental health and substance use provider organizations, public health, local and county government, law enforcement, public schools, higher education, nonprofits, businesses, and individual community members.

OUR IMPACT AREAS:

  • Promoting Resiliency: A focus on mental health and wellbeing, prevention, awareness and education
  • Reducing Stigma: A focus on mental health literacy, storytelling about living well with mental illness and promotion of Mental Healthcare as Healthcare
  • Connecting to Care: A focus on access to mental health services, service navigation, crisis system reform, and diversion to treatment
  • Growing & Strengthening Workforce: A focus on availability and accessibility of mental health professionals, training and development of a quality workforce, and expanding the spectrum of care providers
  • Seeking Solutions: A focus on Collective Impact and Systems Change Models for solving, not managing, current problems, bringing incubating ideas to fruition, and supporting aligned activities

GUIDING PRINCIPLES:     

  • Collaboration: Collaborate with others on shared root cause and shared risk issues
  • Equity: Elevate, understand and address disparities in mental health outcomes
  • Diversity Enlist and engage diverse champions to voice the mental health needs and concerns of our community
  • Innovation: Embrace innovation, challenge existing norms and structures, and champion out-of-the-box solutions
  • Data-Driven: Make mental health, suicide, and substance use data accessible, digestible, and usable to drive strategy and decision-making for our community
  • Lived Experience: Welcome and intentionally center the voice of lived experience in all activities
  • Systems Orientation: 94% of the problem is caused by the system, and 6% by the individual (Demings 94/6 Rule)