The Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS), located within the New Jersey Department of Health, proposes a statewide Mental Health Awareness Training Project with the goal of training individuals who are in regular contact with adolescents and young adults so that they can identify those with mental illness and substance use and refer them to appropriate treatment services. The grant will support training these individuals in the nationally recognized and evidence-based educational program called Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), which will be used along with Question, Persuade, and Refer (QPR) for Suicide Prevention to equip trainees with the knowledge and skills needed to effectively identify those at risk and to intervene and to refer as needed. The target population are individuals aged 14-24 years who have mental illness and/or a substance use disorder, and especially those with severe emotional distress (SED) or serious mental illness (SMI), and those who have a potential for self-injurious or suicidal behaviors. The trainees will also be able to refer those identified as needing services to the appropriate licensed mental health provider. These trainings will be offered to all people who have routine contact with adolescents and young adults in school and other settings, with a special focus on colleges and universities, active duty Guard and Reserve units, and veterans. A dedicated, multicultural team of full-time and part-time certified trainers from the Disaster and Terrorism Branch (DTB) of DMHAS will provide these trainings. Trainers come from diverse backgrounds that include the military, law enforcement, education, mental health and/or addiction fields. For over 15 years, this team has worked statewide with emergency response partners, first responders, schools, community organizations and faith-based entities.
The objectives of the project reflect the expansion of the training capacity and the type and frequency of the training of MHFA and QPR to a variety of populations who interact and work with adolescents and young adults. Two Youth MHFA trainers and three MHFA trainers will be certified in Year One. Annually there will be 24 sessions offered with approximately 600 persons trained. At the end of three years, approximately 1,650 individuals will be trained on MHFA. Also with this grant, five trainers will be certified for QPR. Four QPR trainings will be offered each month with an approximately 960 participants trained annually. At the end of the three years, a total of 2,640 individuals will be trained in QPR suicide prevention. To enhance mental health awareness and suicide prevention among veterans and first responders, a forum will be offered annually to at least 80 Active duty military, Reservists, veterans and first responders. At the end of the three years, over 240 participants will take part in the forums.