Thursday, November 21, 2024
11/21/2024
DenverStrong: Building Resilience and Ending Stigma through Education will train individuals to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental health disorders, teach them crisis de-escalation techniques and educate them about mental health providers so they can refer individuals to appropriate services. The Denver Department of Public Health and Environment (DDPHE) and its partners Denver Public Health (DPH), a department of the Denver Health and Hospital Authority; Denver Human Services (DHS) Child Welfare Division, Prevention Services; and the Mental Health Center of Denver, the city's largest community mental health provider, will train 1,000 individuals each year (5,000 over the project period). Those targeted for training include first responders; healthcare providers and lay staff who work in Denver's safety-net hospital; veterans and veteran services providers; city employees; educators; community and faith-based leaders; recreation center staff; and child welfare-affiliated families and providers of childcare services and foster and kinship care. These categories of individuals were selected because they are likely to interact with people who are experiencing a mental health disorder. Residents of Denver are the population of focus because in a five-year period, 17.1% of residents reported eight or more days of poor mental health in the previous 30 days (Colorado Health Institute, 2020, Colorado Health Access Survey, 2019). The Mental Health Center of Denver, a licensed and experienced mental health provider, will accept referrals from individuals who receive mental health awareness training. DDPHE has selected the following evidence-based practices (EBPs) and promising practices programs (PPPs) to train people to better meet the needs of individuals with mental health disorders. Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) and Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA); Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR); Understanding De-escalation; Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP); Bringing Protective Factors Framework to Life in Your Work (BPFL); Trauma-Informed Practices (TIP) training; Organizational Wellness; Psychological First Aid (PFA); and Historical Trauma training. DenverStrong's goals are: 1) increase trainee's ability to recognize signs and symptoms of mental health disorders in adolescents and adults, and 2) increase trainee's ability to engage effectively by assessing an individual's mental health status and to intervene effectively by providing resources and referrals to mental health services, if appropriate. The objectives are: 1) By the end of the five-year grant period, 5,000 Denver residents will be trained in at least one of the selected evidence-based and promising practices, of those, 70% will be non-mental health workers and 30% will be mental health workers; 2) By the end of the five-year grant period, 80% of the trainees will display increases in intervention effectiveness scores; 3) By the end of the five-year grant period, at least 2,500 referrals will be made to mental health services by trainees; and 4) 80% of trainees will increase their knowledge and awareness of the signs and symptoms of mental health disorders and available resources.
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).
