Union cherokee cares (UCC) - union cherokee cares is a joint initiative between union and cherokee counties in rural south carolina, service gaps such as, 1) access to behavioral health, 2)…

Union cherokee cares (UCC) - union cherokee cares is a joint initiative between union and cherokee counties in rural south carolina, service gaps such as, 1) access to behavioral health, 2) identifying and referring those with high rates of alcohol and drug use, and 3) persistent mental health problems that are not recognized. For individuals to receive mental health awareness training (e.g., youth and adult mental health first aid) will be adults who work with and/or interact with adults, youth, and young adults ages 16-24 to include those in college/university-based settings. The south carolina (S.C.) catchment area will be those who live or work in two under resourced, upstate counties: cherokee county and union county. These adjacent counties are mainly rural in nature with few resources for early identification and referral for services. In both counties, there is only one public mental health agency and one alcohol and drug abuse authority that provides prevention, early intervention, and treatment. Each county has one school district with 8,605 k-12 students in cherokee county and 4,017 in union county which will help streamline training for the approximate 1127 teachers/staff in the 15 elementary, 4 middle and 3 high schools. The counties have three local colleges/universities that that will also partner on this initiative. This includes limestone university a four-year private college (n=3200), and the university of south carolina (USC)-union a fast-growing two-year public university (n=6500).