Mendocino mental health awareness training (mendomhat) project - redwood community services (RCS) will deliver evidence-based trainings to increase the county's capacity to recognize and respond to…

Mendocino mental health awareness training (mendomhat) project - redwood community services (RCS) will deliver evidence-based trainings to increase the county's capacity to recognize and respond to signs and symptoms of serious mental illness and serious emotional disturbance through the mendocino county mental health awareness training (mendomhat) project in rural mendocino county. The population of focus encompasses veterans as well as children and youth. The overall purpose of the project is to ensure that local children, youth, and veterans receive the services they need for optimum mental and emotional health. This project has special urgency because of the county's recent wildfire disaster that traumatized hundreds of children. Populations of focus include children, youth, veterans, and family members. The project will provide mental health awareness training to: teachers and school staff; healthcare providers; and family resource center and head start staff, law enforcement and emergency first responder units, as well as veterans, their family members and the greater community. With skills developed through project trainings, service providers will be able to accurately identify and effectively refer children and youth that exhibit a need for mental health services, and successfully DE-escalate conflict situations. Veterans and their family members will acquire similar skills. RCS will train 250-350 individuals per year, with a total of 1,425 trained over the course of the grant. Goal 1. Increase capacity of partners to identify children with SED and adults with SMI. OBJ. 1A. Provide mhat to 50 FRC, 55 health care personnel, 750 school staff, 50 head start staff, 100 law enforcement and 120 emergency first responders. OBJ. 1B. Provide mhat to 300 veterans and family members. OBJ. 1C. Collect training assessments from at least 80% of trainees. OBJ. 1D. Collect annual satisfaction surveys from all partner entities. Goal 2. Increase effectiveness of referrals to community resources. OBJ. 2A. Develop community resource listings, referral processes, and tracking mechanisms. OBJ. 2B. Ensure follow up by partners on at least 90% of referred children and youth. Goal 3. Increase knowledge and awareness of signs and symptoms of mental illness. OBJ. 3A. Develop and implement each mind matters social marketing campaign. OBJ. 3B. Place at least 4 news articles, 4 psas, and 50 social media posts and participate in tabling at 4 community events. Goal 4. Increase organizational capacity as a resource for mental health awareness. OBJ. 4A. Develop a system for tracking and monitoring staff training needs and certifications. OBJ. 4B. Ensure that appropriate staff are certified as evidence-based practice trainers. Estimated number of people to be served as a result of the grant award: 1,425