Operation green ribbon - thanks to a new 5-year federal grant, CHR is collaborating with a network of community partners to help address unmet mental health needs across hartford, tolland and…

Operation green ribbon - thanks to a new 5-year federal grant, CHR is collaborating with a network of community partners to help address unmet mental health needs across hartford, tolland and windham counties. The project, named operation green ribbon, will provide mental health first aid (mhfa) training to social and human service staff; criminal justice professionals; veterans, armed services members and their families; k-12 teachers and school personnel; as well as community college students and faculty. The population to be served includes individuals of all ages who reside in the 50-town catchment area and are experiencing undiagnosed mental health needs. The first goal is to develop a network of trainees to identify, support, and refer children and adults who are faced with mental disorders to appropriate resources. Objective 1: by the 4TH month of the grant, CHR's instructors will be certified in mhfa. Objective 2: by the end of year 1, the instructors will train a minimum of 12 social service staff followed by an additional 12 each year until the end of the grant. Objective 3: by the end of year 1, the instructors will provide mhfa training that will include crisis DE-escalation techniques to 12 criminal justice professionals and will train 12 more each year until the end of the grant. Objective 4: by the end of year 1, the instructors will provide youth mhfa to 18 personnel from k-12 schools and will train an additional 18 each year until the end of the grant. Objective 5: by the end of year 2, the instructors will will train 6 community college employees in mhfa and will train and additional 6 in each year until the end of the grant. Objective 6: by the end of year 2, the instructors will train 10 armed services personnel, veterans, and/or their families in mhfa for veterans, including crisis DE-escalation techniques and will train an additional 8 individuals during each of the three years remaining in the grant. The second goal is to increase trainees' understanding of community resources. Objectives include developing a mental health awareness training plan, reviewing the plan with CHR's consumer/family advisory committee and developing a mental heath awareness resource manual. Each mhfa trainee will receive written and electronic versions of the manual that identifies professional services, self-help and peer support opportunities, and other resource options by the 8TH month of the grant. The manual will also be made available electronically by the end of the first year of the grant on CHR's website and facebook page, and through links to the manual on willing provider and agency websites. In all, 300 people will be trained, representing 60 people over 5 years.