Monday, November 25, 2024
11/25/2024
OVERVIEW: Metropolitan Community Health Services (MCHS), a 501(c)(3) non-profit Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) that is a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic, is applying for the Mental Health Awareness Training Grant to increase mental health awareness and train populations in rural eastern North Carolina on how to appropriately and safely respond to individuals with mental disorders, particularly individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) and/or serious emotional disturbance (SED). As part of this project, MCHS will coordinate with appropriate state and local health agencies including the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse at DHHS. OVERVIEW OF MCHS: MCHS provides mental health services as well as primary and preventive medical, dental, pharmacy, behavioral health, and substance abuse services to vulnerable and indigent populations in eastern North Carolina on a sliding fee scale. MCHS serves the rural counties of Beaufort, Hyde, Martin, Tyrrell, and Washington in North Carolina. PROJECT NAME: Mental Health Awareness Training Project in Rural Eastern North Carolina POPULATIONS TO BE SERVED: MCHS will serve populations throughout its five-county service area, with a focus on vulnerable, low-income, and uninsured populations; these counties share significant health care, economic, geographic, and educational challenges. According to the Uniform Data System Mapper Report of MCHS’s service area, 43% of the population are low-income residents, 22% live in poverty, and 11% are uninsured, and the County Health Rankings shows that all counties in the service area have numerous core health indicators that are worse than those of the state of North Carolina. In these counties, the average number of poor mental health days is worse than the state’s average, the percentage of the population reporting frequent mental distress of 14 or more days each month ranged from 13% to 15%, and there are high suicide rates. The need for awareness of and referral to mental health services is exacerbated as all five counties are designated by HRSA as Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) for mental health. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic is having a devasting impact on this rural area where the number of positive cases and the case rates per 100,000 have been drastically increasing. STRATEGIES & INTERVENTIONS: MCHS plans to utilize a Project Manager/Trainer and three Trainers to provide Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training to community members, including school personnel, emergency first responders, law enforcement, veterans, armed services members and their families, and others to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental disorders, particularly SMI and/or SED. As part of the trainings, MCHS will teach individuals to identify persons with a mental disorder and employ crisis de-escalation techniques, and will provide education about community resources for individuals with a mental disorder. MCHS will also establish and strengthen linkages with school- and community-based mental health agencies to refer individuals with the signs or symptoms of mental illness to appropriate services. PROJECT GOALS: To increase mental health awareness; to increase referrals of individuals with the signs or symptoms of mental illness to appropriate services; and to increase the appropriate utilization of crisis de-escalation techniques for persons with mental disorders. OBJECTIVES: 1) To provide MHFA training to 330 individuals annually and 1,650 individuals through the lifetime of the project. 2) Within four months of the project’s implementation, to establish or strengthen linkages with 12 school- and community-based agencies to refer individuals with the signs or symptoms of mental illness to appropriate services. 3) To increase the number of referrals of individuals with the signs or symptoms of mental illness to appropriate services to 125 individuals annually and 625 individuals total.
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).
