Increasing mental health awareness across northeast washington - in an effort to expand mental health awareness, access to suicide screening and behavioral health referral process for student in the…

Increasing mental health awareness across northeast washington - in an effort to expand mental health awareness, access to suicide screening and behavioral health referral process for student in the northeast washington region, the northeast washington educational service district 101 (newesd 101) is applying for a FY 2021 mental health awareness training grant in the amount of $125,000 per year. Project name: "increasing mental health awareness across northeast washington" population served/demographics: the project will begin year one training staff in four local school districts (medical lake, cheney, reardan-edwall and spokane public schools) within the newesd 101 service area, with a collective enrollment of 36,611 students. The districts combined serve the largest population of military families within the newesd 101 service area, in addition to four ZIP codes that are among the most distressed in washington on the basis of income, housing, and educational attainment. Throughout the five year duration of the grant, training, screening, and referral services have the capacity to reach up to 104,232 students and their families, in addition to school personnel in 59 school districts. While not all districts may elect to have staff become trained instructors, all districts will have the opportunity to be trained. In northeastern washington, data showing students' self-reported feelings of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation and attempts are consistently higher than the state and national averages. Upon deeper examination, the data show higher reports for depression and anxiety among students who are low income and also those who have moved at least one time in the last year. Given that the project is partnering with school districts that serve some of the most impoverished ZIP codes within the state and a higher than average military family population, the project is meeting a specific need within the selected school districts. Strategies: the project will partner with three school districts per year who will commit to sending elementary and secondary school administrators and educators to a three-day, in-person instructor training. Additionally, each participant will commit to CO-facilitate at least three ymhfa aiders courses per year. Measurable objectives: 1) train at least 20 school staff as youth mental health first aid (ymhfa) instructors per year, with an overall goal of 100 new instructors by the end of 2026. 2) instructors will CO-facilitate three annual trainings to a minimum of 12 participants per session, with an overall goal of training 5,400 ymhfa aiders by the end of 2026. Number served: 2,488 annually; 10,376 over the lifetime of the project.