Santa Cruz County Project AWARE: Advancing Student Wellness, Prevention, and Behavioral Health Access - Constructing Circles of Peace, in partnership with Nogales Unified School District No. 1, will implement Santa Cruz County Project AWARE across 11 K–12 schools serving approximately 5,800 students in rural Santa Cruz County, Arizona. The project will strengthen a three-tiered framework addressing mental health, substance use, and co-occurring disorders through prevention, early identification, brief intervention, referral, and treatment connections. Activities include needs assessment, resource mapping, provider MOUs, and strategic planning. Tier 1 will provide universal mental health promotion, substance use and suicide-prevention education, Mental Health First Aid, and youth and family activities; Tier 2 will provide screening, multidisciplinary student-support teams, brief intervention, family navigation, and referral coordination; Tier 3 will connect students to individualized behavioral health, crisis, stabilization, and treatment services. By the end of Year 1, at least 50 school and partner personnel will be trained. Beginning in Year 2, the project will annually reach at least 4,500 students, engage at least 100 parents and caregivers, screen at least 500 students, and provide brief intervention or coordinated Tier 2 support to at least 250 students. At least 90% of students needing additional services will receive a referral, and successful service connections within 30 days will increase from 75% by the end of Year 2 to 85% by the end of Year 5.
