Hope Mental Health Education Project - Hope Network Behavioral Health Services (HNBHS), headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, will implement the Hope Mental Health Education Project (MHEP) in Western Michigan. The goal of the project is to train individuals in several distressed Western Michigan communities to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental disorders and how to safely de-escalate crisis situations involving individuals with a mental illness; and to provide education on resources and services available in the community for individuals with a mental illness and how to link them to such resources and services. Adults and youth across a variety of sectors of community life will be trained, including significant adults in the lives of children and youth in economically distressed communities in the City of Grand Rapids, the City of Lansing, and the City of Kentwood. Through MHEP, HNBHS will provide training to:
Staff at HNBHS
All sworn officers in the Grand Rapids Police Department (GRPD)
Staff, parents, and youth at all three Boys and Girls Clubs of Grand Rapids (BGCs)
Michigan State University (MSU) campus community in East Lansing
Students in the Lansing School District (LSD)
Teachers and students in the Kentwood Public Schools (KPS)
The focus population in Grand Rapids that will be most impacted by the MHEP is the overall population of Grand Rapids that is served by the GRPD; children and youth age 6-18 served in three BGCs; as well as others who come in contact with the BGC staff and parents who participated in training. The focus population in the MSU campus community that will be most impacted will be the students. The focus population of LSD and KPS that will be most impacted will be children enrolled in these schools.
HNBHS will achieve the following objectives with the MHEP: 1) 150 HNBHS staff will complete MHFA and/or YMHFA training by the end of Year 3; 2) 100% (approximately 300) of sworn officers in the GRPD will complete MHFA training by the end of Year 3; 3) 75 staff and parents at the BGCs will complete YMHFA training in prevention and mental health for children/youth by the end of Year 3; 4) 75 teens at BGCs will complete tMHFA training in prevention and mental health by the end of Year 3; 5) 600 individuals in the MSU campus community will complete MHFA training in prevention and mental health by the end of Year 3; 6) 150 students in the Lansing School District will complete tMHFA training in prevention and mental health for children/youth by the end of Year 3; 7) 1,900 students in the Kentwood Public Schools will complete tMHFA training in prevention and mental health and 200 staff will complete YMHFA training by the end of Year 3; 8) individuals referred to mental health (or related) services in the communities that participated in training as part of the project will increase over baseline by 20% by the end of Year 3; 9) 2,588 training participants (at least 75% of individuals who participated in training) will demonstrate improvement in knowledge, attitudes, and/or beliefs related to prevention and mental health promotion as a result of completion of the training as measured on pre- and post-surveys.
The number of participants who will be trained annually is 1,151 and the total number of participants who will be trained over the three years of the project is 3,450.