Arlington mental health initiative (AMHI) - arlington public schools (APS) is located in the geographic catchment area of middlesex county, massachusetts, united states, six miles (10 KM) northwest of…

Arlington mental health initiative (AMHI) - arlington public schools (APS) is located in the geographic catchment area of middlesex county, massachusetts, united states, six miles (10 KM) northwest of boston with a population of 42,844. The school district consists of seven (7) elementary schools, two (2) middle and one (1) high school in arlington massachusetts and in a long standing partnership with arlington youth counseling center (AYCC) and interface (through william james college) proposes the project arlington mental health initiative (AMHI) to provide mental health awareness training to school personnel, emergency first responders, law enforcement, veterans, fire department personnel and others within the schools and community. Our largest population focus will be students aged 4-18 within our community, however training will be provided to additional community members to further the success of our endeavor. Due to the gaps in service that were uncovered during the planning phase of the grant application, the following goals were created: 1) increase community access to samsha evidence-based programs of youth mental health first aid and adult mental health first aid training; 2) improve school climate; 3) effective integration of sequential education through ymhfa across the K-12 environment; 4) improve school staffs' and community understanding of mental health, how to DE-escalate crisis situations and improve the mental health literacy, decreased stigma, increased confidence of trainers/instructors. The overall objective of the program is to provide samsha evidence-based programs of youth mental health first aid and adult mental health first aid training that will be to increase mental health knowledge, beliefs about treatment more consistent with mental health professionals, reduction in personal and perceived stigma, increased intention to help, and confidence in providing help to students, compared to those who were not trained. The project will serve 1,1515 people, with individual years to include: year 1 - 315; year 2 - 320; year 3 - 290; year 4 - 325 and year 5 - 265.