Shayla A. Sullivant, MD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine; Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, University of Kansas School of Medicine
Full Biography
Shayla Sullivant, MD, Developmental and Behavioral Health, received a one-year, $15,000 2023 Healthy for Life Cycle grant from Menorah Heritage Foundation.
The funding will be used to expand Dr. Sullivant’s Prepped and Ready program.
Prepped and Ready is a program to help equip parents for the transition into parenting teenagers. Prepped and Ready aims to help parents and caregivers learn what steps they can take before a crisis develops with their teenager. The program also talks about changes each one of us can make within our own homes to make them safer. The goal is to empower parents and caregivers to address the hard topics that can be very uncomfortable.
The Prepped and Ready program provides a brief overview on the following topics, with an emphasis on suicide prevention:
- · Eating disorder prevention
- · Home safety (including storage of firearms, medications, etc.)
- · Self-care
- · Substance use (including vaping)
- · Suicide prevention
This specific funding will allow Prepped and Ready to expand and to reach families not served previously. This fall a viewing session will be held at Ft. Leavenworth, KS. Caregivers who participate in the research will receive a safety toolkit to help them enact recommended changes, including securing firearms and medications in the home. Surveys completed by participants will help gauge the impact of the program, and what changes families make after participating and receiving the toolkit.
“Firearm-related injuries are currently the leading cause of death for youth, and overdose deaths continue to rise. This initiative allows us to identify the best way to reach caregivers and prevent suicide attempts among youth,” said Dr. Sullivant.
You can read about previous funding Dr. Sullivant received for the Prepped and Ready program here.