Breaking Down Mental Health Barriers in Rural Western New York - The Western New York Rural Area Health Education Center (R-AHEC) is part of the National Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Program and is New York State’s first AHEC. The AHEC Program connects students to careers, professionals to communities and communities to better health. R-AHEC began operations in 1999 as a non-profit independent facilitation resource that serves as a networking hub to a predominately rural 12-county region, headquartered in Warsaw, New York. Counties include Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Orleans, Steuben, Wayne, Wyoming, and Yates, covering 9,141 square miles. R-AHEC is specifically structured to generate strategic partnerships with academic programs, communities, and professional organizations. R-AHEC is recognized as a neutral, regional facilitation resource capable of successful implementation of local, state and federal workforce and education grants for a wide variety of local and regional healthcare organizations, school and community partners. The goal of the Mental Health Awareness Training is to train individuals to recognize signs and symptoms of mental health disorders, establish linkages, and train emergency services personnel, law enforcement, fire department personnel, veterans, and others to identify persons with a mental disorder and employ crisis de-escalation techniques; and educate individuals about resources that are available in the community for individuals with a mental disorder. R-AHEC proposes to accomplish these goals by utilizing the Mental Health First Aid program curriculum for our application. Mental Health First Aid is an evidence-based program that is managed by the National Council for Behavioral Health. The Mental Health First Aid program teaches about “risk factors and warning signs for mental health and addiction concerns, strategies for how to help someone in both crisis and non-crisis situations, and where to turn for help” using an established and proven five-step action plan. Through the Mental Health Awareness Training grant, staff will be trained as trainers in the Mental Health First Aid curriculum. Over a five-year period, our organization will train over 1000 people in rural communities using the Mental Health First Aid program. We will train the general public, first responders, veterans, and healthcare providers in six rural counties of WNY including Wyoming, Orleans, Genesee, Allegany, Chautauqua, and Cattaraugus counties. We will leverage existing partnerships with health care providers, county mental health departments, and community-based organizations to train individuals, establish and strengthen linkages, train first responders, health care providers, and veterans, and provide resources for mental health services. Our goal as a health education center is to provide the community with mental health awareness training to help reduce the stigma associated with mental health disorders, equip the community to help one another, and improve outcomes for individuals by providing more support and resources in our communities. The proposed training activities will increase understanding of mental health disorders in rural communities, increase knowledge of existing resources in the six rural counties, and break down barriers including stigma relating to mental health disorders.
