Equipping our heroes: mental health awareness & DE-escalation training for first responders - directions for living (DFL) has over 38 years of experience providing trauma-informed behavioral health…

Equipping our heroes: mental health awareness & DE-escalation training for first responders - directions for living (DFL) has over 38 years of experience providing trauma-informed behavioral health care services in pinellas county, as well as decades of experience providing evidence-based trainings to local providers and professionals on how to improve supports for the community. To better serve local residents, DFL will provide adult and youth mental health first aid training to 5,000 of pinellas county's law enforcement officers, as well as other first responders, through the equipping our heroes: mental health awareness & DE-escalation training for first responders initiative. The individuals who will receive mental health awareness training include first responder agency personnel in pinellas county, FL. Pinellas county's first responder agencies encompass 14 law enforcement agencies, 55 fire departments and fire stations, 74 paramedic first responder units, and 6 emergency call centers. The population of focus or beneficiaries of the mental health awareness training will be pinellas county youth and adults who are experiencing a mental health condition and who come to the attention of any first responder. Pinellas county has one of the highest rates of death by suicide, baker act committals, and homelessness in the state. In 2019, 189 pinellas county residents died by suicide. Sadly, this rate does not account for the more than 1,250 youth and adults who experienced non-fatal intentional self-harm injuries (florida department of health). In 2019, pinellas county reported that 29,561 adults experienced a serious mental illness and 12,350 individuals were hospitalized as a result of mental disorders (florida department of health). According to personal enrichment through mental health services (pemhs), the local crisis stabilization unit in pinellas county, there were more than 2,500 baker act committals between july 1, 2019 and june 30, 2020 and nearly 200 of these individuals had a second baker act within six months of the prior committal. DFL has more than 4 years of successfully delivering mental health first aid trainings and has more than 20 years delivering crisis intervention team training. By increasing mental health first aid training for all pinellas county first responders, they will be better equipped to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental health conditions and/or substance misuse issues and be able to refer individuals to appropriate professionals or services. DFL is proposing to train a total of 5,000 first responder personnel in adult mental health first aid or youth mental health first aid over a five year period. DFL will train 670 first aiders in year one, 1,165 in years two and three, and 1,000 in years four and five. By training at least 5,000 first responder personnel, DFL hopes to achieve an increase in referrals to appropriate mental health services, increase engagement for individuals exiting a crisis stabilization unit due to a mental health crisis or substance misuse issue to ensure they are connected to ongoing services and support post discharge, and to decrease the number of repeat baker act committals for individuals. DFL knows firsthand the positive impact that providing these curricula have on increasing the community's ability to recognize the signs and symptoms of a mental health crisis or substance misuse issue and being able to refer individuals to appropriate service providers. DFL knows that early identification and linkage with the right care at the right time is paramount to individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis and is dedicated to providing this life-saving training to all first responders.