Friday, March 14, 2025
3/14/2025
Youth in rural Tulare County, California face multiple risk factors and have limited access to support. Tulare County has the 5th highest rate of adolescent suicide in the State of California. To address the need for increased awareness of mental health in the community the Tulare County Office of Education proposes the implementation of a Mental Health Awareness Training (MHAT) Project for Tulare County, California that will utilize Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) and Applied Suicide Intervention and as the evidence-based training to be provided to school staff (teachers, administrators, coaches, etc.), first responders (law enforcement, fire, paramedic), and community members with regular contact with youth (foster parents, after-school programs, service providers). The TCOE population of focus is youth ages 12-18. There are 144,922 youth under the age of 18 in Tulare County, greater than 65% are Hispanic and over 65% are economically disadvantaged. The youth in Tulare County face a myriad of risk factors. The Tulare MHAT has Three goals: 1. Increase mental health awareness; 2. Increase youth access to mental health screening and services; and 3. Reduce adolescent suicide in Tulare County. The goals have seven objectives: 1. Provide YMHFA to 1,140 for school staff, first responders (law enforcement, fire, paramedic) and community members who have regular contact with youth ages 12 to 18; including veterans and their families over the life of the Project. 2. Increase capacity for YMHFA training by increasing the number of certified YMHFA trainers in Tulare County by providing training to 16 new YMHFA Instructors in Year One. 3. Increase the use of de-escalation techniques by school personnel, emergency first responders, law enforcement, and community stakeholders when engaging youth through YMHFA training to 1,140 adults over the life of the Project. 4. Establish linkages between trained YMHFA First Aiders and community-based mental health agencies for referrals to services. 5. Establish 15 formal linkages between schools and community-based mental health agencies for resources for youth with SED or SMI. 6. Increase access to ASIT by having 9 new ASIST Instructors trained by the end of the Project. 7. Provide ASIST Training to 300 adults by the end of the Project.
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).