Mental Health Awareness Training (MHAT) for Service Providers & Families of Armed Service Personnel & Veterans - Integral Care, the local mental health authority for Travis County, Texas, plans to implement a new project, Mental Health Awareness Training (MHAT) for Service Providers and Families of Armed Service Personnel and Veterans. The project will provide Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training, as well as Counseling on Access to Lethal Means (CALM), utilization of the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS), and Safety Planning Intervention (SPI), to families, caregivers, and service providers in contact with armed service personnel, veterans and their families who may be experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, and serious mental illness (SMI) that may be impairing their functioning in daily life activities. Individuals targeted for Mental Health Awareness Training may work with veterans and armed service members in a community-based counseling center, or healthcare facility, and/or may be Certified Veteran Peers, and/or may be a veteran's family member or caregiver. These individuals interact on a daily basis with armed service personnel and veterans who are in need of multiple community-based services due to their complex and chronic trauma. Texas is home to nearly 1.7 million veterans of the armed forces, more than any other state except California. Veterans with mental health and substance use conditions face a number of increased risk factors including: chronic homelessness, a greater risk of suicide, a wide range of serious medical problems, premature mortality, and incarceration. Unfortunately, only about half of all veterans with a diagnosed behavioral health condition have accessed appropriate services, and even fewer have received adequate care. Tragically, national statistics currently report that each day, an estimated 18-22 veterans die by suicide. In Texas in 2014, 554 veterans died by suicide.
Integral Care's goals for this project are 1) to increase the understanding and recognition of the signs and symptoms of mental illness and how to safely and appropriately respond among families, caregivers, and service providers in contact with armed service personnel and veteran, 2) to increase the knowledge of available community resources - crisis services, counseling, substance use, basic needs, primary care, housing, support groups - in Travis County for veterans and armed service personnel and how to access them, 3) to increase the utilization of these resources by the armed service personnel and veterans with whom service providers and families and caregivers work with on a regular basis, and 4)to develop collaborative partnerships with relevant community agencies and programs to assist with responding to mental health issues and improve coordination of services to armed service personnel, veterans, and their families. Measurable outcomes include the following: 1)by September 29, 2021 a total of 600 individuals, consisting of service providers, families and/or caregivers (200 each year of the project) will be trained in MHFA; 2) by September 29, 2021 50% of the individuals trained in MHFA will also be trained in CALM, the C-SSRS and SPI; 3) by September 29, 2021 100% of individuals trained in MHFA will receive a comprehensive resource packet consisting of community supports, such as crisis, counseling, medical care, housing, support groups, and employment services for armed service personnel and veterans; and 3) by September 29, 2021 75% of individuals trained in MHFA will refer an armed service personnel or veteran to a community resource listed in their resource packet.
