Friday, May 9, 2025
5/9/2025
Youth Aid Ohio: Mental Health Trainings, Resources, Referrals - The Ohio Mental Health Network for School Success (OMHNSS), the Center for School-Based Mental Health Programs (CSBMHP), a cadre of Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) instructors, referral agencies in the 6 OMHNSS regions of Ohio, and the Discovery Center for Evaluation, Research, and Professional Learning will partner in a proposed initiative entitled Youth Aid Ohio: Mental Health Training, Resources, Referrals. This initiative will provide YMHFA training to school personnel (e.g., educators, administrators, school support staff, school resource officers), behavioral health providers (e.g., behavior specialists, social workers, counselors), youth-serving organization staff (e.g., mentors, coaches, tutors), and parents and family members so they can recognize signs and symptoms of mental health concerns among school-age youth in pre-kindergarten through grade 12, and refer those youth to services, as appropriate. YMHFA will be delivered throughout each of the 6 regions of the OMHNSS, providing opportunities for adults throughout the entire state of Ohio to participate. The goal of the proposed project is to raise awareness of mental health needs among school aged youth and to build statewide and local capacity of the behavioral health workforce to develop integrated, comprehensive, data-driven strategic plans that will prevent, delay the onset, mitigate the seriousness of mental health and behavioral health problems, and ensure that youth have access to timely and effective services. The unduplicated number of individuals to be trained annually through YMHFA is 750 people, with a total of 2,250 people trained as ‘first-aiders’ over the entire 3-year project period. The proposed initiative’s objectives are 1) expanding the current capacity of OMHNSS individuals certified as instructors to deliver YMHFA training by engaging at least 13 certified YMHFA regional instructors through contracted services and additional regional instructors on a volunteer-basis (as needed); 2) increasing the number and competence of local school personnel, youth-serving organization staff, and family members who are trained to detect and respond to mental illness in school-aged youth by coordinating training schedules statewide to accommodate 25 (or more) YMHFA training events with a total of 750 participants certified as ‘first-aiders’ annually (75 trainings/2,250 participants certified over 3 years); 3) improving the referral pathway to local mental health services by increasing the total number of local school-aged youth with mental health signs and symptoms who are identified by ‘first-aiders’; 4) increasing the number of local school-aged youth who received school-based mental health services; and 5) increasing the percentage of local mental health service referrals for school-aged youth that resulted in mental health services being providing in the community. By providing this type of support to our school-age youth, Youth Aid Ohio will ensure that mental health training, resources, and referrals are key priorities in Ohio.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).