Project REACH (Resilience through Engagement, Access, Collaboration, and Hope) - The University at Albany, State University of New York (UAlbany) will implement Project REACH: Resilience through Engagement, Access, Collaboration, and Hope, a comprehensive behavioral health capacity-building initiative serving approximately 15,000 undergraduate and graduate students in New York’s Capital Region. The project will strengthen suicide prevention, mental health promotion, substance use disorder services, crisis response, and recovery support, with special attention to students experiencing or at risk for suicide, depression, serious mental illness, substance use disorders, recovery-related needs, and military-connected and veteran students. Strategies include expanded Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment services; annual behavioral health needs assessments; a Campus Behavioral Health Collaborative; an integrated crisis and referral network; evidence-based gatekeeper training; awareness and stigma-reduction initiatives; and enhanced recovery supports. UAlbany will screen 250 students annually, train 200 students, faculty, and staff annually through evidence-based gatekeeper training, reach 1,200 stakeholders annually through awareness initiatives, increase referrals to behavioral health services by 30% over the project period, expand recovery programming, and implement an institutionalization plan to sustain effective practices beyond the grant period.
