MHAT collier - david lawrence centers for behavioral health (DLC) proposes collier mental health awareness training (MHAT)

Trainees will include primary care and specialty providers of medical care; families, caregivers, and service providers in contact with armed services personnel, veterans and their families; faith communities; and the general public. The population of focus for MHAT will be adults with severe mental illness. Collier MHAT's overall goal is to improve the community response and the healthcare provided to adults with severe mental illness. Collier MHAT will present the evidence-based mental health first aid for adults to community medical providers, and the general community. Collier MHAT will present specialized population-based mental health first aid programs to spiritual and veteran communities. Mental health first aid for faith and spiritual community will be offered to faith groups and mental health first aid: military members, veterans and their families to active military, veterans, families, caregivers, and service responders in contact with armed services personnel, veterans, and their families. Collier MHAT will also offer mental health first aid for adults to the general community. Collier MHAT will provide a total of 50 training events to 900 individuals over the five years of the grant. In the first year collier MHAT will present 6 training events to 100 individuals. In years two through five, collier MHAT will annually provide 11 training events to 200 individuals. Collier MHAT will provide written and electronic materials for the individuals being trained and maintain and update web-based materials for both trainees and the general community. Collier MHAT will establish referral mechanisms that increase the ability of the individuals trained to refer and link the population of focus to mental health resources and services. Collier MHAT will emphasize referral processes in all training and conduct post-testing of referral knowledge immediately following training and by regularly contacting trainees to obtain data regarding the number of referrals to mental health services they have made subsequent to their training. The collier coalition for healthy minds will include in its activities a role as convener of a collier MHAT sub-committee in which collaborating agencies will develop a comprehensive community mental health training plan, respond to community mental health issues and work to improve coordination of services to the population of focus. The sub-committee will assess collier MHAT's implementation, progress and address identified barriers. Collier MHAT will report quarterly using spars the number of individuals who receive mental health awareness training and collect data on the number of individuals that each trainee has referred to mental health or related services throughout the life of the grant.