Hackensack Meridian Carrier Clinic Mental Health Awareness in Identifying Disturbances in Emotions Program (AIDE) - Summary: Hackensack Meridian Carrier Clinic (HMCC) Mental Health Awareness in Identifying Disturbances in Emotions (AIDE) Program aims to develop mental health awareness training based on the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) toolkit in four New Jersey (NJ) Counties: Bergen, Middlesex, Monmouth, and Somerset. AIDE's main goal is to improve community mental health training, impacting 2,340 individuals over five years. The AIDE population of focus includes school-aged children and adults in the four-county catchment area in the following categories: (1) Adults with whom medical and non-medical staff at large medical centers within each county interact; (2) School-aged children and adults from partner school districts; (3) Adults with serious mental disorders and the general public with whom law enforcement officers interact. Incidence rate: In 2019, there were a total of 56,287 unduplicated individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) and serious emotional disturbances (SED) hospital admits in NJ, 35.9% of whom are from the four target counties. Strategies/Interventions: HMCC aims to better prepare and train the community on how to respond to individuals with mental disorders safely and appropriately by using the evidence based MHFA toolkit. Project Goals: Project goals include: (1) increase awareness among medical and non-medical personnel to identify signs and symptoms of mental disorders; (2) increase awareness of mental health among teachers, schools nurses, safety officers, college and guidance counselors and staff by training in recognition of signs and symptoms of mental disorders ; and (3) increase awareness of mental health among law enforcement by training on the use of verbal de-escalation techniques and mental disorder symptom recognition. Measurable Objectives: Objectives are to (1.1) Train 1,020 (unduplicated) HMH team members (1.2) Conduct 68 MHFA training sessions for HMH team members (medical and non-medical) (1.3) Conduct formative and summative evaluation surveys to assess mental health awareness levels (2.1) Train 660 (unduplicated) law enforcement, and (3.3) Expand access to MHFA training by developing a training for law enforcement officials. People Served Annually: In Year 1, HMCC will train 345 individuals (HMH) team members, school staff, and law enforcement officials); in Year 2, 495; in Year 3, 525; in Year 4, 450; and Year 5, 525 will be trained. People Served During Project Lifetime: This project will train 2,340 unduplicated individuals, including 1,020 team members in HMH; 660 teachers, school nurses, safety officers, guidance counselors and/or staff, and 660 law enforcement from the four counties.
