Medical professional mental health awareness training project (medical professional mhat), a program of peer support coalition of florida, INC. (PSCFL), proposes to address the needs of adults with…

Medical professional mental health awareness training project (medical professional mhat), a program of peer support coalition of florida, INC. (PSCFL), proposes to address the needs of adults with serious mental illnesses (SMI) and serious emotional disorders (SED) by training primary medical care providers, specialty medical care providers, and allied health professionals on how to appropriately and safely respond to individuals with mental disorders. PSCFL has identified a need in florida for better access to care for individuals with mental illness. To address the needs identified, the three goals of the medical professional mhat project are: 1) train primary care providers, specialty care providers and allied health care providers to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental disorders particularly serious mental illness (SMI) and/or serious emotional disturbances (SED) and employ crisis DE-escalation techniques; 2) establish linkages with community-based mental health agencies to refer individuals and provide education on supportive community resources; 3) educate medical care professionals on the necessity and benefits of self-care in promoting wellness to their patients. PSCFL has a goal through the medical professional mhat project to provide mental health first aid (MHFA) youth and MHFA adult training to 400 medical professionals in year one, 500 in year two and 600 in years three through five. Total trained in MHFA over the life of the grant is 2,700. In response to the covid-19 induced mental health stress in the medical professional population, additional training in wellness tools and self-care will be added through the use of wellness recover action plan® (WRAP) and emotional CPR® (ECPR) trainings for medical professionals who have been trained in MHFA. In each year 240 medical professionals will be trained in WRAP for a total of 1,200 over the course of the project. In each year 240 medical professionals will be trained in ECPR for a total of 1,200 over the course of the project.