The “Mental Health Awareness Training for Healthy US-MX Border Minority Communities: Expansion to Rural TX Public Health Region 10 (09/30/21- 09/29/26)” Project aims to enhance the capacity of six high-risk Hispanic counties (5 rural) (Texas Public Health Region 10) on the TX, US- Juarez, MX border to respond to individuals with mental disorders, particularly Serious Mental Illness (SMI) and/or Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED) by providing evidence-based education and training, and establishing/expanding linkages to care. The University of Texas at El Paso - the major regional Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI)’s Minority AIDS Research Center (MARC) rural health core – (90% of 25,000+ students residing in surrounding communities and, commuting to campus everyday)- will partner with Aliviane Inc., the region’s primary behavioral health service provider(with 50+ years of experience) to expand Mental Health Awareness Training to enhance regional capacity to respond to individuals with mental disorders. Individuals who will receive evidence based mental health trainings are: first responders including teachers and school personnel, parents and caregivers of those with mental illness, law enforcement, emergency service providers, veteran and veteran families service providers, behavioral health providers and primary and speciality care givers in. The population of focus : Hispanic individuals and minority sub-groups including LGBTQ, im(migrant), veterans, homeless individuals, people with disabilities, and first generation college students in the 6 priority HRSA Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) counties that are constantly exposed to stressors and stigma for SMI and/or SED. Project goals are to (i) train individuals who most frequently interact with at-risk populations including first responders, parents and caregiver, families, teachers, law enforcement, veteran service providers, primary care providers and counselors etc. to recognize the signs and symptoms of SMI and/or SED and respond safely, to identify individuals with mental illness and, to employ crisis de-escalation techniques (N=300); (2) Establish and/or expand linkages with community based and campus based organizations to create a 6-county regional coordinated response to refer individuals with SMI and /SED in a timely manner; (3) educate the TX Public Health Region 10 Counties about resources available in across 6 counties to safely respond to individuals with mental illness in a timely, sensitive, and culturally appropriate manner and (4) To conduct formative and summative evaluation related to advancing project goals. The measurable objectives of this project are: (i) to train 300 individuals in MHFA 09/2021- 09/2026, (ii) to develop and expand a regional referral system protocol for tracking outcomes related to individuals reached by trainees, (iv) to implement an updated regional mental health resource directory available via social media by 06/2022 to all priority communities (860,000+ residents) while linking all project social media to stakeholder organizations’ social media and, (iv) to conduct process and outcome evaluation from 09/2021-09/2026.
