Saturday, November 23, 2024
11/23/2024
The Rutgers Children’s Center for Resilience and Trauma Recovery (CCRTR) proposes an expansion of it’s original MHAT grant from two townships in Burlington County, New Jersey to providing services county-wide. The CCRTR has established partnerships with various agencies within Burlington County to provide evidence-based mental health awareness trainings and create a shared language and approach to effectively recognize and respond to youth that are struggling with serious mental illness and suicidality. Our project partners include the county crisis intervention team which is comprised of EMTs, first responders, and law enforcement, two school districts, the county Children’s Interagency Coordinating Council (CIACC), Military Family Support 360, four places of worship, and two local mental health service agencies to create a community of sensitivity and increased awareness for youth in this community. According to the 2016 data reported by the CDC, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. Similar findings were reported by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) for the state of NJ. The AFSP reports that death by suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in NJ reporting that there is one death by suicide every 11 hours in the state. Youth residing in NJ are twice as likely to die by suicide than homicide. According to the NJ 2017 Youth Suicide Report, suicide rates for NJ youth have increased by 40% since 2002. Burlington county alone has witnessed 11 student deaths, 6 law enforcement and emergency responder suicides, and 8 other impactful community losses in the past 17 years. These findings are alarming and illustrate a need for “gatekeepers” to increase early identification and clinical supports. Burlington County houses residents representing diversity in ethnicity, SES, etc. According to demographic data from the State of NJ, the population is 67.5% White, 16.5% Black/African American, 8.3% Hispanic or Latino, 4.6% Asian, and 3.1% indicated “other race identified”. Also worth noting, Burlington County is home to Fort Dix and Joint Base McGuire, as a result this community has a large population of military families. With increased reports of student anxiety, drug use, and child welfare involvement in the past 10 years, the need for professionals, parents, and peers to have an effective approach to youth dealing with mental illness and its sequelae is crucial. We intend to train our partners in our selected evidence-based programs of Question, Persuade, and Refer (QPR) and Youth Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), and establish a Youth Ambassador Program in Year 3 by training peer leaders in teen versions of QPR and MHFA. We intend to train 149 people in Year 1, 226 in Year 2, 242 people in Year 3, 232 people in Year 4, and 245 in Year 5, totaling 1,098 people over the course of the grant cycle. We will also establish an interdisciplinary advisory board- including youth- to promote sustainability of this important work beyond the grant cycle. Finally, we plan to track the volume and appropriateness of referrals to our designated mental health service agency partners.
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).
