Thursday, November 21, 2024
11/21/2024
We propose to impact populations in need of mental health support and referral by reaching out to groups (e.g. teachers/school staff, law enforcement) in a position to help them. We will then offer mental health awareness and crisis de-escalation training to these groups. Our strategy is to leverage three 12-sector prevention councils we are creating/expanding with a new SAMHSA grant, targeting different sectors in different years through sector representatives on the councils. The project - Project Awareness - will thus target both youth and adult subpopulations in a five-town are in New Haven county. Demographic and clinical data: West Haven, the largest of the communities, has large minority populations, with low income and poverty rates well above the state average. Nearly 65% of West Haven students are eligible for the state's Free/Reduced Price Lunch (FRL) program, a standard index of low income. The other communities are largely white and middle-income. The youth focus population targeted (in Year 1 of our project) is grades 7-12 in the Amity Region 5, Milford and West Haven school districts, comprising slightly over 8,000 students. School survey metrics indicate worrisome rates of mental health issues in some schools, but even more clearly a consistent and striking link between mental health and substance abuse. For example, students who reported feeling "sad or hopeless" during the past year had tobacco and marijuana use rates more than double those of other students. The segments of the adult focus population to be accessed will vary from year to year. The focus population in Year 2 will be individuals encountering law enforcement, healthcare professionals, or first responders. The target population here is quite large. Given over 45,000 police calls in the most recent year, and estimates of the percentages of these involving mentally ill individuals between 5 and 10%, the focus population for police alone is between 2,717 and 5,434. The focus population corresponding to substance use organizations, which we target in Year 3, will potentially benefit anyone with substance use issues, and the number of clients served by the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) in the 5-town area is 3,550. The focus populations of other groups targeted for training - e.g. religious/fraternal organizations and businesses, in Year 4 and 5 - are harder to define statistically, but offer access a large, wider segment of the population that does not necessarily fall under the above categories. Interventions, goals, and objectives will be to hire a Project Director and train and certify four staff members to conduct trainings using the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) and, for crisis de-escalation, the Nonviolent Crisis Intervention (NCI) models. Youth coordinators at each of the three prevention councils will actively collaborate with our project and a program evaluator will submit reports and develop feedback surveys. Our 5-year targets are as follows: 1,200 individuals trained in MHFA (240 per year), 260 trained in NCI (usually 40 per year, but 100 in Year 2), and 3,360 persons referred by recipients of training (480 in Year 1 and 720 annually thereafter).
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).
