The Prepared To Respond 5-year initiative will train 2,300 adults who regularly interact with residents of Long Island, NY to identify and de-escalate mental health crises and issues. Trainees will comprise receptive groups of school personnel (including teachers), law enforcement and emergency services personnel, healthcare workers, team members of area soup kitchens and food pantries, government-service employees, Veterans, and people who routinely interact with Veterans, including family members. Our population of focus—the end-beneficiaries of those receiving training—is the general public (children and adults) who will benefit from a more widespread ability of everyday service providers and neighbors who can recognize and respond to signs and symptoms of mental illness and/or a mental health crisis. Our catchment area is Nassau and Suffolk Counties, NY. This highly populated suburban, mixed demographic region east of New York City matches the service area of our nonprofit agency, CN Guidance & Counseling Services (lead applicant), a major provider of integrated mental health and substance use disorder services in the region. We also have 15+ signed partners committed to this initiative.
Even prior to spiking mental distress during the Covid crisis of 2020 to present, our region has suffered from disproportionate prevalence of serious mental health conditions that result in emergency room usage and/or inpatient hospitalization. Among ALL eleven regions across NY State, Long Island (L.I.) was shown, by the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) in a 2016 DSRIP (Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment) report, to have the highest percentages of: (1) ER visits for bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and chronic stress and anxiety diagnoses; (2) inpatient admissions for bipolar disorder; and (3) inpatient admissions for opioid use disorder. In 2020, opioid overdoses spiked 40%-50% compared to year-prior, reversing two years of progress in both L.I. counties against a battle that has claimed more than 4,000 lives since 2010. Since this is a federally designated Health Professional Shortage Area, training individuals across our area in the basics of mental health first aid will save and improve lives.
The project will address current needs by delivering 6+ hours of evidence-based Mental Health First Aid training to each of 2,300 individuals. Those trained will be distinguished by: (a) their daily contact with the public (children and/or adults), including with vulnerable populations; (b) their receptivity to receiving training and acting on it; and (c) the commitments of signed partnering organizations who will engage more such individuals (and when they are employers, free up time for these individuals to attend 6+ hours of training). Training cohorts will range in size from 5 to 30. Via data collection, we will report on the number of people that trainees have referred to mental health resources in the periods following each individual’s training.
This Initiative will serve 4,300+ people: 2,300 individuals trained plus 2,000+ individuals likely to be referred to mental health services by the trainees in months/years after the training.
