UPR-RP's Mental Health Awareness Training Project II - Proyecto AHORA - This project will train firefighters, Family Department personnel, Justice Department personnel, police officers, security personnel, emergency personnel and other first responders, veterans and families of veterans, government personnel who provide direct services to the public, personnel of higher education institutions, personnel of community organizations, including those providing services to minority groups (such as members of the LGBTQ communities and the Dominican community) and members of the general community who are not likely to take the course if they had to pay for it. The populations that the UPR-RP's Mental Health Awareness Training Project II (also known as Proyecto AHORA, or Humanitarian Assistants Trained to Refer and Help) intends to help Spanish-speaking minority groups, mostly Puerto Ricans who live in Puerto Rico (PR); veterans and armed services members; higher education students and personnel; and other minority groups such as members of the LGBTQ communities and Dominicans. The goal of this project is to increase knowledge of mental health first aid among individuals who live, work or study in the areas which were hit the hardest by the 2020 earthquakes, the pandemic and Hurricane Maria and facilitate access to mental health services for individuals with serious mental illness. The project will train first responders and other individuals, including members of the general community to ensure a broad representation of community members and diversity. By the end of the grant, 3,600 individuals from PR, mostly from the zones most severely impacted by the 2020 earthquakes, COVID-19 and Hurricane Maria will have been trained by this project, for an average of 720 individuals per year. Of the 3,600 individuals, 400 individuals will be mental health and related workforce professionals who will be trained in mental health-related practices and activities that are consistent with the goals of the grant, for an average of 80 each year, while 3,200 Mental Health First Aiders (MHFAiders) will include other populations and will be classified under the category of individuals who have received training in prevention or mental health promotion. These will include 1,000 police officers; 450 firefighters; at least 400 emergency responders from the PR Family Department; at least 335 emergency responders and other personnel from the PR Justice Department; and 350 veterans and family members of veterans and armed services members. At least 3,600 referrals will be reported by the MHFAiders that we train by the end of the project, for approximately 720 referrals per year. An increase of at least 20% in knowledge and intervention skills will result from the MHFA training as measured by the re and post-tests. An average increase of at least 10% in provided mental health services will be reported by the mental health providers that collaborate with the project; this increase will be sustained until the end of the project when comparing with the baseline.
