Friday, April 25, 2025
4/25/2025
Duval County Public Schools AWARE 4 All Mental Health Awareness Training - Duval County Public Schools is applying for funding to support, expand, and sustain our AWARE 4 All mental health awareness and referral program. The program utilizes the expertise of trained mental health professionals and other expert staff who are employed in the educational system in Duval County, FL. These experts in turn train thousands of educators and other district and school staff to recognize the warning signs and symptoms of youth in our schools in mental health crisis, and know how to respond and find help. The ultimate goal of AWARE 4 ALL is to establish an entire school district that is mental health literate and responsive to students in crisis. DCPS will utilize the Mental Health First Aid model (MHFA) to improve mental health literacy among district and school personnel. This evidence-based practice, used by organizations around the world, is included in SAMHSA’s registry of evidence-based programs and practices and has a significant amount of research supporting its effectiveness. It is a train-the-trainer model requiring 3-5 day sessions for certification, offered in various cities from May through August. Certified instructors offer 1-2 day trainings throughout the year to train First Aiders in mental health awareness, recognizing concerns in students, and understanding how to take action to get help for students in crisis. The target population of focus are the 128,000 school-aged children enrolled in all DCPS schools, with an added focus on populations at higher risk: 1) students at high-poverty, low-performing schools, and 2) students at schools with high military-connected populations. Mental health issues can happen anywhere and to anyone, so DCPS will embed training for staff to address the needs of all students, with additional support for students who are more likely to face challenges. A primary goal of this grant will be to increase the capacity of the district to provide MHFA training. DCPS plans to accomplish this goal by certifying 3 DCPS staff each year as MHFA instructors each year of the grant, for a total of 9 instructors. A secondary goal of this MHAT grant will be to train more district staff—especially those in close contact with students and at-risk students—to improve mental health literacy, allowing them to recognize and respond to mental health issues among students and in the schools. To reach this goal, the district must 1) train more new First-Aiders and 2) recertify some of the 2,500 existing First-Aiders in the district who will require renewal to keep their certification current. The final goal of the project is to increase the knowledge, perceptions, and practical application of MHFA strategies. MHFA is a practice that works best when it is adopted by an entire organization, creating an institutional knowledge base of mental health literacy. AWARE 4 All will train: 1. Unduplicated number of certified MHFA instructors to be trained: 3 individuals annually, 9 total over the project period. 2. Unduplicated number of First Aiders to be trained: 500 individuals annually (250 new, and 250 renewal, on average); 1,500 total over the project period.
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).