The AWARE Arizona Project: Prevention, Early Intervention and Referral to Treatment for Youth Substance Use and Mental Health - notMYkid, Inc. (NMK) will lead the AWARE Arizona Project to expand a statewide three-tiered system of substance use and youth mental health prevention, early intervention, screening, and referral to treatment for youth ages 10–18 and their families across Arizona’s urban, rural, frontier, and Tribal communities. The project will continue in Maricopa County and expand capacity in Navajo, Mohave, Yuma, Cochise, and Pima Counties, prioritizing Title I schools and Tribal LEAs. Using the Strategic Prevention Framework, NMK will strengthen or establish 6 prevention coalitions, complete county-specific needs assessments and resource mapping, develop MOUs with Tier 2 and Tier 3 community providers, and develop three-tiered strategic plans. Prevention strategies include Youth Mental Health First Aid, SafeTALK, CATCH My Breath, and Botvin LifeSkills; Project Rewind and SBIRT will support early intervention and referral to treatment for at-risk youth and families. Certified Peer Prevention Specialists will provide prevention education on youth mental health, substance use, suicide, and bullying to at least 100,000 youth, plus 10,000 family members and 1,000 faculty. NMK will engage at least 400 school-age youth in Botvin LifeSkills and youth-led activities, educate 10,000 family members in youth prevention, enroll no fewer than 300 families in quarterly workshops, and train at least 1,000 faculty to identify signs and symptoms of youth substance use and mental health concerns.
