Creating trauma and disaster informed systems of care for underserved youth through mental health awareness training in puerto rico (MHAT) - school-age youth in the west and southwest regions of the…

Creating trauma and disaster informed systems of care for underserved youth through mental health awareness training in puerto rico (MHAT) - school-age youth in the west and southwest regions of the island of puerto rico (PR) have significant mental health service gaps, barriers in access to care, and have been significantly impacted by traumatic exposures resulting from several natural disasters and a global pandemic. Schools are an ideal setting in which to provide mental health awareness training to teachers, school staff, and caregivers to identify, DE-escalate, and refer/link to school and community based mental health resources. To best serve these youth, physical (i.e., primary care physicians) and mental health professionals (including trainees), as well as community leaders receiving these referrals, also need trauma and disaster-informed mental health awareness training to build more robust systems of care. The current MHAT project will train teachers, school staff, caregivers and community providers/leaders and trainees to: 1) recognize signs and symptoms of trauma and disaster-related mental-health disorders and how to safely DE-escalate crisis situations; 2) provide education on resources available in the community for youth with mental illness and other relevant resources and 3) establish linkages with school and/or community-based mental health agencies to refer school-age youth in puerto rico to appropriate mental health services. The population of focus who will be impacted by individuals trained in mental health awareness are school-age youth- defined as children and adolescents, ages 5 to 18, in grades K to 12, who are enrolled in public schools in puerto rico located in the west and southwest geographic area of the island (N= 74,422 school-age youth across 257 public schools). These schools have a high percentage of low-income, underserved, disaster affected youth who are at increased risk for mental illness. Evidence-based and culturally and linguistically tailored mental health awareness trainings (MHATS) offered through this project include: (1) trauma-informed schools (TIS); (2) psychological first aid (PFA); (3) suicide & crisis management (SCM); (4) lgbtqi+ youth. All MHATS and resources will be offered in spanish, by culturally and linguistically competent trainers and providers. Our team has developed long-lasting, collaborative partnerships with relevant community agencies in puerto rico over the past 5 years and all have agreed to partner with US: puerto rico departments of education, family, and health; albizu university and university of puerto rico; the three largest community mental health agencies in puerto rico: assmca, APS and inspira; and non-profit community organizations that serve vulnerable school-age youth in puerto rico. The goals and objectives of this project are to: 1) increase the capacity and knowledge of teachers, school staff, caregivers, and community providers (i.e., primary care physicians & mental health providers)/leaders (i.e., non-profit and faith-based) and trainees (i.e., graduate students in physical and mental health): (1) to recognize signs and symptoms of trauma and disaster related mental health disorders in school-age youth; (2) increase their capacity and knowledge to safely DE-escalate crisis situations; (3) provide education on resources available in the community; and (4) establish linkages with school and/or community-based mental health agencies to refer school-age youth to appropriate mental health services. Our project aims to offer mental health awareness training to 3,000 unduplicated individuals over the three years of the grant (year 1=500; year 2=1,000; year 3=1,500).