GA Discretionary Funding Fiscal Year 2023

Agnes Scott College (AGS), a small, private residential women’s college outside Atlanta, Georgia, is applying for a SAMHSA GLS grant to support its project, Scotties Mind Your Mental Health. ASC is diverse, with 61.7% of students identified as students of color. The population of focus for the grant is LGBTQIA+ students, who comprise 66.27% of students seen at ASC’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) department. CAPS will serve 4,125 people in three years: 1,350 people in Year 1, 1,375 in Year 2, and 1,400 in Year 3. Overall, CAPS sees 32% of ASC college students. CAPS consistently has more appointments with students annually then similarly sized schools. The Student Government Association felt so strongly about needing more services that it passed a resolution for expanding CAPS staffing. GLS funds will be used to hire a new project coordinator who will implement prevention programming, provide educational seminars, and coordinate outreach efforts. Some evidence-based interventions ASC will implement are Mental Health First Aid, QPR, ASIST, and emotional therapy dogs. The grant’s goals and objectives are: Goal 1: To develop an infrastructure of community relationships, trauma-informed and culturally responsive policies, and training to support the well-being, mental health (MH), and academic success of ASC students. Objective (Obj.) 1.1: Formalize partnerships with five off-campus entities to have them: a. provide informational materials on campus, b. attend MH fairs two times per year, and c. develop warm referral network pathways for students. Obj. 1.2: Develop, review, and/or revise policies to ensure they are trauma-informed; recognize under-resourced populations; and are clear and up-to-date, to include academic policies regarding course accommodations, medical leave of absence (MLOA), crisis protocols, including postvention, Students of Concern team procedures, and guidelines for staff on identifying and referring students with MH or AOD issues by the end of the year one. Obj. 1.3: By the end of the grant period, 300 administrative and student leaders will participate in Scottie Safe Zone training for LGBTQIA+. Obj 1.4: By the end of the grant period, 300 staff, faculty, and students will attend QPR, Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), and/or ASIST training. Obj. 1.5: Develop and implement an ongoing monthly training series (eight months per year) for all residence assistants on incorporating trauma-informed practices using trauma-informed values in residence halls and signs of vicarious trauma and what to do when it is experienced. Goal 2: To identify and support ASC students before and if they experience a MH or AOD crisis in order to lessen the impact on their well-being, including academics, and safety. Obj. 2.1: Provide culturally responsive, trauma-informed counseling services to 400 students each academic year via CAPS by the end of Year 3. Obj. 2.2: By the end of the grant period, CAPS will create five new MH support groups for historically marginalized populations, including for the population of focus, LGBTQIA+ students, non-binary and transgender students, and also for immigrants and international students and others identified through student discussions. Obj. 2.3: Facilitate all first-year students developing wellness plans during SUMMIT Legacy (first-year orientation). Obj. 2.4: Each semester, CAPS and Active Minds will hold one MH fair. Obj. 2.5: Engage one student group per semester that represents an under-resourced population to assist in outreach, education, and awareness programming focused on that population. Obj. 2.6: Provide educational health and wellness seminars to150 students each academic year on topics such as self-care, social connectedness, transitioning to college, time management, budgeting, coping skills, stress reduction, eating disorders, intimate partner violence, etc.

Clayton County Juvenile Justice Fund doing business as Clayton County System of Care is applying for the NCTSI-II grant opportunity to build out the infrastructure of our Clayton County School Justice Partnership. Our Clayton County model often referred to as the “Teske” model, is recognized as the first of its kind and renown in utilizing a School Justice Partnership to promote early intervention, enhance mental health and prevent long term consequences of Adverse Childhood Experiences or trauma. Since our inception in 2004, we have been promulgating best practices by providing Technical Assistance (TA) through our in-house Progressive Assistance for Change and Empowerment (PACE) partnership to establish and sustain a trauma informed SJP to provide early trauma intervention that promotes health and wellness by increasing academic achievement and reducing unnecessary juvenile court referrals that lead to adult incarceration. PACE has lifted up Clayton County’s model which received recognition for serving as a national model and ideal solution to excessive school suspension and expulsions (Edleman, 2017, Howell et al. 2014, and NCJFCJ, 2015). Under the leadership of Judge Teske, PACE uses our national platform to provide training and technical assistance to forty-one different sites across twenty-three states and several of our sites have gone on to establish an SJP and have reported positive outcomes. Despite our nation’s progress towards implementing SJP’s many jurisdictions continually fail to realize the prevalence of ACEs among youth in the juvenile justice system. Jamieson (2019) notes that 90% of youth in the juvenile justice system have reported exposure to at least one ACE. The CCSJP will enhance national access to our dual in-person and remote platforms to help jurisdictions broker community buy-in and establish and sustain a trauma-informed School Justice Partnership. Moreover, our comprehensive approach includes data guidance and technical assistance to assist jurisdictions in collaborating across systems and agencies to measure and monitor their data driven needs and success. The incorporation of the data assistance will help overcome the current gaps of knowledge that jurisdictions struggle with when seeking to replicate the Clayton County School Justice Partnership (NCJFCJ, 2015). Lastly our unique marketing and resource assessment and technical assistance coordination allows jurisdictions to mobilize and sustain their School Justice Partnership. By providing services through our comprehensive CCSJP helpdesk we aim to replicate efficacious trauma informed School Justice Partnerships across the nation to embolden healthy future outcomes for children, families and communities.

The Foothills Education Charter High School (Foothills) Mental Health Awareness Training (MHAT) Grant Project aims to increase referrals and access to mental health care for students by implementing training to enhance the skills of educators, establishing linkages to community- based mental health agencies, and providing evidence-based social marketing and awareness around mental illness. Multiple data sources show Foothills students experience high rates of behavioral health concerns, all recently compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic, and their mental health needs are often unmet or under met due to rurality and lack of awareness and access. Foothills is a Georgia public charter school that serves as a non-punitive, alternative, evening second-chance opportunity for students who have dropped out or been unsuccessful in a traditional high school. Foothills consists of nineteen individual sites: 14 in partner school districts, 3 sites in Georgia Department of Corrections locations, a virtual Youth Challenge site serving Ft. Gordon and Ft. Stewart and a fully virtual state-wide site. The population of focus for the MHAT project are the 2,600 Foothills students who are ages 14-22 and live in the state of Georgia. As a statewide public charter high school, Foothills primarily serves students in the Northeast Georgia region of the state, but increasingly is serving students state-wide with the expansion of the fully virtual site. The goals of the project are: (1) to enhance the mental health awareness skills of Foothills educators and student services staff through Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training; (2) to establish referral mechanisms to reduce barriers to access to mental health resources and services for Foothills students; and (3) to implement evidence-based social marketing and Social Awareness around mental illness specific to the needs of Foothills students. Over the 5 year lifetime of the project, over 800 educators will be trained in MHFA with between 100-200 trained annually. Educational professionals to be trained include: teachers, special education teachers, paraprofessionals, counselors, social workers, graduation coaches, career specialists, site directors and assistant site directors, registrars, receptionists, paid mentors, and school resource officers. A summary of objectives include: training 100% of Foothills educators using MHFA curriculum, developing collaborative partnerships with mental health service providers throughout the state and establishing referral mechanisms to increase mental health care, and to increase student and staff awareness of mental illness through quarterly social marketing. Intentional collaboration with the Northeast Georgia Community Service Board, Advantage Behavioral Health Systems will assist Foothills in meeting these objectives. Foothills students, while experiencing high levels of mental health distress, also demonstrate great determination and resilience by returning to school to complete a high school diploma. The MHAT Grant Project will equip Foothills educators to recognize, react and de-escalate responsibly and safely when students experience mental health challenges, thereby increasing student academic success and positive life outcomes.

Fort Valley State University (FVSU) is working with partnering organizations in their effort to provide the Training Encounters Advancing Mental-Health (TEAM) Project. This effort will provide Mental Health Awareness Training (MHAT) and related referral support services for at least 1,000 mental health workers, school personnel, emergency first responders, law enforcement, veterans, armed services members and their families and others who come in contact with the citizens of greater Peach and Macon-Bibb Counties, in Georgia. The TEAM Project, building on the success of the extensive mental health services that have been offered by FVSU, will provide MHAT for a minimum of 200 mental health workers and other individuals annually. Instruction will be offered utilizing the evidence-based Mental Health First Aid Training Program through an 8-hour training course and Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) a suicide prevention EBP at either project partner locations or at the office of the company being trained. The program objectives are: 1) By the end of each project year to train at least 200 targeted mental health workers and other individuals to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental disorders, particularly serious mental illness and serious emotional disturbance. 2) By the end of each project year to establish or maintain linkages with schools and community based mental health agencies to refer individuals with the signs or symptoms of mental illness to appropriate services. 3) By the end of each project year to train at least 200 targeted mental health workers and other individuals to employ crisis de-escalation techniques with the individuals they have identified with mental disorders. 4) By the end of each project year to educate and follow up at least 200 MHAT trained mental health workers and other individuals about resources that are available in the community for individuals with a mental disorder. FVSU the lead agency, has been responding to the needs of at-risk populations in the Metropolitan Macon-Bibb and Peach County area for many years. TEAM staff members will include a full-time project director who will supervise the overall project, and act as the primary contact with the federal funding source. A full-time project coordinator will assist with training and follow up on all referrals made to the project to help facilitate treatment and address issues. The project will also include a mental health project liaison with mental health credentialing who will provide the MHFA trainings. An independent evaluator will be contracted to collect performance data and assess completion of project objectives

The Building Georgia's 988 Capacity Project will use grant funds to expand call center workforce at the Georgia Crisis and Access Line (GCAL), Georgia’s National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL) vendor, where 988 calls will be answered. NSPL calls are projected to increase from 50,000 calls per year to 240,000 calls and texts/chats. Funds will support 32 additional call center staff, resulting in an estimated 3,840 more calls per week being answered. GCAL serves both insured and uninsured individuals experiencing a mental health, substance use or intellectual and developmental disability-related crisis 24/7/365 across all 159 Georgia counties. 79.68 percent (8,645,280) of Georgia’s population are age 15 years and over. 40.55 percent of Georgians live in rural areas. Behavioral Health Link, Inc., the operator of GCAL, will hire new staff, upgrade technology, and streamline processes to reduce call burden on staff and allow faster response times to individuals in crisis. These efforts will continue beyond the 988 rollout. Once fully staffed this could result in 399,000 calls being answered in the two-year lifetime of this grant. As a state participant in SAMHSA’s Governor’s Challenge to Prevent Suicide among Service Members, Veterans, and their Families, Georgia’s continued collaboration with the Veterans Suicide Line will be an area of focus in the 988 rollout. DBHDD has set GCAL performance metrics to be aligned with the grant KPI’s and are as follows: filling vacant front line staff positions within ten weeks; ? 1% downtime; average speed to answer (ASA) of ? 30 seconds, and abandonment of ? 5%. Follow up for suicidal individuals will be added as a metric. DBHDD’s Project Evaluator and other project staff will meet with GCAL regularly to review metrics, evaluate data, and conduct continuous quality improvement. Project Goals: (1) Supporting GCAL to achieve above noted metrics through funding additional staff and identifying technological and process efficiencies. (2) Answering all 988 calls, texts, and chats that originate in Georgia (3) Achieving and maintaining a 95% call answer rate for NSPL/988 (4) Identifying long term funding strategies to support sustainable high-quality 988 service Proposed number of calls to be completed: 399,000 Federal funding request for this application is $2,927,923.

The State of Georgia is pursuing SAMHSA CCBHC State Planning Grant funding to support its efforts to transition the publicly funded behavior health service delivery system to include statewide access to Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics. This transition will expand service capacity and improve access to needed services for individual in Georgia. It is intended that these efforts will significantly impact currently unmet needs in the state. The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) is Georgia’s Mental Health Authority (O.C.G.A. 37-1-20 (2010)). DBHDD is responsible for all components of the state public behavioral health and intellectual and developmental disability systems. Over the last eight (8) years DBHDD has strategically prioritized its preparedness for growing the CCBHC model and network to provide direct support to its contracted providers through the CCBHC Project. Designed to help qualified Community Service Boards (CSBs) achieve Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic status, the CCBHC Project has supported providers to integrate additional services to ensure an approach to health care that emphasizes recovery, person-centered wellness, trauma-informed care, and physical-behavioral health integration. The state of Georgia has identified significant unmet need for behavioral health services, particularly among the population intended to be served by the “safety net” of Tier 1 providers (CSBs). The CSBs currently serve approximately 108,000 individuals each year. It is expected that this will remain consistent during the planning grant period. The currently unserved and underserved population is the primary intended population to be served by this project. By Race and Ethnicity, the current service population is 54.6% White/Caucasian, and 38.6% Black/African American, with no other race constituting more than 2% of the population. Currently, 4.2% of the population is Hispanic/Latino. This is fairly consistent with the racial/ethnic composition of the population of Georgia and is expected to be consistent with the intended service population of this project. The population includes adults and youth with mental illness and/or substance use disorders. It also includes those individuals with co-occurring mental illness and developmental disabilities. Veterans, active military, and their families are also part of the intended service population. The primary goal of this project is to complete application for, and be selected as, a CCBHC Demonstration State. This includes successfully completing all required activities: including soliciting and using stakeholder input; finalizing the application, review and certification process for initial CCBHCs with diverse geographic areas; establishing processes for expanding CCBHCs during the demonstration period; supporting providers to become Tier 1+ providers and certified CCBHCs with cultural, procedural and organizational changes resulting in expanded, high quality, person-centered, trauma-informed services; address workforce issues; developing, testing and implementing a PPS system with specific PPS rate for each CCBHC provider with appropriate cost reporting and verification; and enhancing data collection, analysis and reporting capacities.