NCC thrives! Will facilitate a campus environment in which mental health resources are accessible, seeking help is encouraged and seen as a strength, and members of the campus community recognize…

This $101,185 Project Grant awarded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.243) will fund Northampton Community College's "NCC THRIVES!" initiative. The project aims to improve mental health awareness and access to resources on campus. Key activities include:

• Implementing a mental health public awareness campaign with a new wellness portal, speakers, videos, and "zen den" spaces
• Training 800 student, faculty, and staff "gatekeepers" in suicide prevention and mental health response
• Developing 10 new partnerships to increase student access to trauma-informed mental health providers, including 720 hours of telepsychiatry counseling
• Increasing the percentage of students who know how to access campus/community mental health resources from 62% to 75%, and the percentage who express intent to seek services from 47% to 75%

This grant will be performed from August 2023 through September 2023 at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

NCC thrives! Will facilitate a campus environment in which mental health resources are accessible, seeking help is encouraged and seen as a strength, and members of the campus community recognize and respond to students in crisis. The project will implement a mental health public awareness campaign featuring a new mental health and wellness portal, a diverse group of speakers who will share personal stories of mental illness and addiction, videos, murals, and other, visible, mental wellness messaging, and low sensory "ZEN dens." newly trained students, faculty and staff gatekeepers will create a community of responsibility where individuals feel responsible for one another's well-being. Relationship building with community partners and telepsychiatry for students in crisis will connect students to trauma informed providers. Northampton community college (NCC) serves more than 8,000 credit students each year, and, as an open-access institution, serves a student body facing significant academic, personal, and financial challenges that inhibit their ability to remain in good academic standing and fully participate in the learning process. NCC students work hard inside and outside of the classroom; more than half of all students care for dependents, most students work for pay, and more than half receive need-based financial aid. The stresses of college, exacerbated by the covid-19 pandemic, are taking a toll on students' mental health. While more than one third of respondents to the college's online mental health assessment indicated that they had recently considered suicide, fewer than half said they would seek help due to stigma or misunderstandings of the counseling process. NCC thrives! Addresses this GAP in students' knowledge of available mental health resources and their misconceptions about mental illness and help-seeking while creating a community of gatekeepers who can respond to those in crisis. NCC thrives! Will: - increase the number of NCC students who know how to access campus and/or community mental health resources to 75% (from a baseline of 62%) of students and will increase to 75% (from a baseline of 47%) the number of students who identify the need to receive mental health services expressing intent to seek services; - certify (13) NCC faculty/staff to teach suicide prevention and mental health gatekeeper trainings: seven (7) in year one; three (3) in year two; and (3) in year three. - train 800 student, and faculty/staff mental health gatekeepers: one hundred sixty (160) in year one; three hundred twenty (320) in year two; and three hundred twenty in year three. - develop (10) new or enhanced existing community and campus partnerships that will increase student access to trauma-informed professionals who can support them or provide treatment: seven (7) in year one; two (2) in year two; and one (1) in year three. A. Northampton county human services, northampton county emergency services, and carbon monroe pike mental health and development services have committed to participate. B. Provide 720 hours of telepsychiatry counseling for students: two hundred forty (240) hours in year one; two hundred forty (240) hours in year two; two hundred forty (240) hours in year three.