Lake County Mental Health Awareness Training Project (LCMHAT) - Be Free Lake, Inc. proposes to address the behavioral health issues of Veterans, armed services members, their families, and the community for Lake and Sumter Counties and Circuit 5. The goal of the Lake County MHAT Project is to build capacity in our community, to detect and respond appropriately to behavioral health concerns impacting adults and youth, and to connect them to needed services. Importantly, Be Free Lake, Inc. will work with agencies, families, law enforcement, and policy makers to increase mental health awareness and training opportunities for our local Veterans, armed services members, their families and community members. The objectives of the Lake County MHAT Program are to train 1,530 veterans, armed services members and families, and community members to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental disorders including SMI and SED through Mental Health First Aid Training by September 2021; increase mental health awareness in Lake County by reaching 5,000 individuals monthly through mental health awareness trainings, social media and activities by September 2021; provide all Lake County school personnel and community based mental health agencies with the resources print and web-based to accurately refer individuals with the signs and symptoms of mental illness to appropriate services throughout the life of the project; train 459 veteran service providers, law enforcement, first responders and others or 30 percent of the total amount trained to identify persons with a mental disorder and employ crisis de-escalation techniques through MHFA Training and referral to CIT when appropriate by September of 2021; link 1,000 veterans, youth and community members to mental, emotional and behavioral health assistance and services as measured by referrals monthly by September of 2021; increase coalition capacity to implement evidence-based curriculum for MHAT to promote positive behavioral health by training 4 stakeholders or service providers as MHFA Instructors by September 2019. BFL currently has 10 trained MHFA Instructors to use on this project; increase membership in the established interagency advisory and leadership workgroup as measured by adding 4 new collaborative partners for MHFA Workgroup by December of 2018; and strengthen Be Free Lake's infrastructure as evidenced by the development of a comprehensive long-term sustainability plan to provide MHAT beyond this grant period by September of 2021. BFL will train 510 individuals annually and 1,530 over the entire project period in MHFA, an evidenced-based curriculum. BFL will also reach annually 60,000 adults and youth through "You're Not Alone," a mental health awareness and social media campaign and 180,000 adults and youth over the entire project period with grant funding. By teaching MHFA to our Veterans, armed services members, their family and community agencies, we are confident that we can make a significant impact by increasing awareness and connecting our population to mental, emotional and behavioral health assistance. The Coalition's mission is to collaborate with community stakeholders to focus on the prevention of substance abuse and violence while providing opportunities for health and wellness among the community.
