EMPACT Suicide Prevention Center’s (EMPACT-SPC) proposed “Mental Health Awareness Training Program,” will expand Arizona’s capacity to identify individuals experiencing a Serious Mental Illness (SMI) and/or Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED), and connect those individuals to needed services throughout our community. Over the three-year project period, The Mental Health Awareness Training Program will develop a highly trained pool of MHFA instructors, including certification and expertise in specialty modules such as Public Safety, Veteran, and Youth to train 2400 individuals (Year 1 - 600, Year 2 - 900, Year 3 -900) with a primary focus on Veterans, Adults with a SMI and Youth with a SED. These First-Aiders are anticipated to refer approximately 4,950 individuals into services and community resources. (Year 1 - 450, Year 2 - 1575, Year 3 -2925)
EMPACT-SPC will leverage partnerships with Veteran groups, Public Safety and Schools to ensure focus on priority populations. The Catchment area for this project is two-fold.
1) Veteran-Specific activity will be statewide and leverages our participation in the Arizona “BeConnected” Initiative. Spearheaded by the Arizona Coalition for Military Families, it is a statewide effort to strengthen access to support and resources for the more than 522,000 service members, veterans and their families who call Arizona home.
2) Public Safety and Youth-related trainings will be focused in the Central Arizona Region. The Central Arizona catchment area of Maricopa County and Pinal County encompasses two diverse and differing regions: Phoenix-Metro area with 3.8 Million inhabitants and a population density of 415 per square mile, and rural Pinal County, with 375,000 inhabits and a population density of 70 per square mile. The population breakdown is approximately: 73% White, 5% African American, 3% Asian American, 2% American Indian, and 17.0% other. 29% of residents are Hispanic, and there are six Native American Tribal Communities located in these two counties.
With the assistance of the Project’s Advisory Council, the program will build collaborative partnerships with veteran service agencies, community behavioral health agencies and school-based resources. In addition, EMPACT-SPC will leverage its existing community-based crisis services, Veteran specific hotline, and its accredited Suicide Prevention Lifeline Crisis Call Center, as well a variety of additional outpatient or community-based services, such as, outpatient treatment for youth, family, adult and individuals with SMI, to ensure that MHFA-Aiders have adequate community resources to refer to, providing ample opportunities for meaningful early intervention.