The Northeast Arkansas Mental Health Awareness Training Project is designed to create a more responsive environment (e.g., through awareness and referrals) for individuals who exhibit mental health issues, particularly those who experience serious mental illness, serious emotional disturbance, and combat-related and other trauma, as well as to create linkages with schools and community-based resources. The geographic area for the project is a 13-county catchment area that mostly includes the Mississippi Delta Region, and includes the Arkansas counties of Clay, Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Greene, Lawrence, Lee, Mississippi, Monroe, Phillips, Poinsett, Randolph, and St. Francis. The project will (a) increase community awareness of mental illness, (b) increase recognition of signs and symptoms of mental health issues, and (c) establish community linkages through which individuals are referred to appropriate treatment and services. Staff from Mid-South Health Systems will be trained as Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) instructors, and, in turn, will train (1) public safety officers (e.g., police officers, firefighters, EMTs), (2) school personnel (e.g., teachers, staff, resource officers), and (3) military veteran/armed services community members (e.g., Veteran Service Officers, community agencies dedicated to assisting veterans, armed services members and their families). Across the 3 years of grant funding, this train-the-trainer approach will result in hundreds of individuals who are able to recognize the signs of mental illness and know how to refer individuals to appropriate resources as needed. In the longer term, this more responsive mental health environment will lead to improved and earlier access to services, and improve subsequent outcomes for those with mental illness.
The purpose of the proposed project is to create a more responsive mental-health environment for individuals in the 13-county catchment area by increasing capacity for, and providing, mental health awareness training and support, and establishing community linkages by which individuals are referred to appropriate treatment and services. The Northeast Arkansas Mental Health Awareness Training Project will address the need for mental health awareness among a wide range of individuals and will provide for sustainability across time by developing a multidimensional interagency Mental Health First Aid advisory board composed of vested stakeholders. Another major component of the project is the training and dual certification of at least 6 MHFA Instructors. To facilitate the identification and use of community resources and support, both written (e.g., Resource Book) and electronic (e.g., on website) materials will be developed for those who have been trained in MHFA to use to refer individuals to appropriate services as the need arises. Additionally, the project will support the development of a community outreach strategy and a referral tracking process to track referrals to mental health resources and services by MHFA trained individuals.
The specific goals of the project include (1) Increasing capacity of individuals in the area of focus to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental disorders in adults and youth, especially Serious Mental Illness (SMI) and Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED), (2) Increase community awareness and knowledge of mental illness and work to reduce stigma associated with that illness, (3) Establish and enhance community linkages to train, respond, and refer individuals with signs and symptoms of mental illness to appropriate services, (4) Develop and implement a Mental Health Awareness Training Plan for consistency and sustainability. Throughout the 3-year grant period, we propose to serve 300 individuals (100 each year).