Community & district-wide training initiative to overcome mental health awareness barriers and improve program support response - an increased awareness pertaining to mental health in our students…

Community & district-wide training initiative to overcome mental health awareness barriers and improve program support response - an increased awareness pertaining to mental health in our students is needed as more and more youth are struggling with depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. To address the lack of awareness within the fontana unified school district, evidenced-based trainings will be utilized to increase the capacity of our staff and student's parents to identify mental health signs and symptoms and link students to appropriate mental health supports. Fontana USD is applying to the FY 2021 mental health awareness training grant (FOA no. SM-21-007) sponsored by the department of health and human services (dhhs) and the substance abuse and mental health services administration (samhsa) to meet this identified need. The lack of awareness held by our staff and our student's families negatively impact our students as their needs are not met in a timely manner, which results in students going untreated and their mental health concerns growing in severity. The population of focus for this project will be our school-aged children and their families. Fontana USD is comprised of 45 schools k-12, an adult education program as well as a virtual learning program (VLP). The schools and programs serve over 37,000 students, 96% identified as a minority enrollment, the majority being hispanic (86%). Most of our students come from homes that are identified as low socio-economic status, where the preferred language spoken is spanish. The goals of the project are as follows: 1) increase the capacity of school staff to identify mental health signs/symptoms and link to appropriate services, 2) increase the number of trained site-based staff that respond to students experiencing a mental health crisis, and 3) increase our student's parent's and caregiver's awareness on mental health signs/symptoms and the appropriate supports. In order to meet these goals, attendance at train the trainer certifications for youth mental health first aid and the prepare model will occur each fall and spring for identified staff during each academic year of grant implementation. These trainers will in turn provide youth mental health first aid workshops to staff that have direct contact with students. Annually, 456 staff will be trained with a total of 2280 at the end of the 5-year project. Student's parents and caregivers will also be trained in youth mental health first aid through workshops offered monthly. First year participation is expected at 60 individuals with 120 each year after for a total of 540 parents/caregivers by the end of the project. In addition, site-based staff such as administrators and school employed mental health staff will be trained in the prepare model in order to respond to mental health crises. 35 staff will be trained annually for a total of 175 by the end of the project.