IN Discretionary Funding Fiscal Year 2023

Aspire’s project “Enhancing Central Indiana's Response to Mental Health with Training and Resources” will expand access to trainings in Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA), teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA), Psychological First Aid (PFA), Crisis Intervention Training (CIT), the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS), and Question, Persuade, and Refer (QPR). Population to be served consists of the communities in our area of service in central Indiana-- Boone, Madison, Hamilton, and Marion counties, focusing mental health professionals and members of the public. Strategies/Interventions: Aspire sees two significant mental health related crises in central Indiana: teenage suicidal ideation and significant co-occurring disorders as the opioid crisis continues to rage across our state. Indiana is not equipped with enough mental health professionals to both treat and be engaged in preventative work in a comprehensive manner. Aspire sees the need for increased training, education, and resource networking for the collective community to take shared ownership of the response to individuals with serious mental illness and those experiencing mental health crises. We plan to use Aspire Indiana staff trained in seven mental health awareness programs that have an emphasis on safely de-escalating situations of crisis. While we plan to conduct trainings in-person, we are certified to offer them online in case of COVID-19 restrictions. All trainings can be offered online except for tMHFA and CIT, which are required to be in-person. The proposed strategies have been informed by Aspire’s work since 2018 as an MHAT grantee. The infrastructure, experience, and community partnerships already developed will enable Aspire to focus on building awareness and interest in mental health within teens, addressing Indiana’s vulnerable youth and expanding the pipeline of mental health professionals. Goals and Objectives: Goal 1: Improve the level of training in the community related to mental health disorders/mental health crises. Objective 1.1: Each year provide 49 group trainings in Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), Psychological First Aid (PFA), and Question, Persuade, and Refer (QPR) to teachers/education staff, church staff, veterans and their families, social service providers, and the general public, resulting in over 739 trained individuals. Objective 1.2: Each year provide 30 trainings in teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA) to teens and Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) for teachers, school staff, and others that work with youth, resulting in 366 individuals trained in crisis intervention and referrals in a school-based and youth service organization setting. Objective 1.3: Provide 28 group training sessions in Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) and the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) to law enforcement, first responders, and healthcare providers, resulting in 464 trained individuals. Goal 2: Improve the ability of the general public to assist individuals in need of mental health services in accessing care. Objective 2.1: During trainings, link participants to available local mental health resources and other mental health tools, such as MyStrength. Objective 2.2: Demonstrate utilization of training through survey responses. Average 0.5 referrals per individual trained each calendar year, based on responses received from quarterly surveys, for a total of 785 annual referrals. Objective 2.3: Increase quarterly participant survey response rate to 20% of those trained in a quarter by offering random gift card drawings as incentives for participation. Objective 2.4: Implement a pre and post test confidence assessment in their ability to assist individuals in connecting with local mental health services in order to quantify the impact of training. Number to be trained by year: Year 1-- 1,569, Year 2 -- 1,569, Year 3 -- 1,569, Year 4 -- 1,569, Year 5 -- 1,569. Total: 7,845.

MHAT for Rural Communities in Indiana targets 13 high-poverty counties in north central Indiana, 11 of which are Federally Designated Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas. Four County Comprehensive Community Mental Health Center (4C) will provide Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) and Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) training to community members who through work or volunteer activities are likely to encounter persons exhibiting mental health symptoms. The population for which the training is intended to help includes adults with serious mental illness, depression, and co-occurring disorders and children/adolescents with severe emotional disturbance and other behavioral health disorders with special emphasis on youth, people involved in the criminal justice system, and veterans. To address the unmet needs in the catchment area – insufficient capacity for non-mental healthcare providers to 1) recognize the signs of mental illness in youth and adults, 2) safely and effectively address the immediate needs of persons experiencing mental health crisis, and 3) help engage persons in both groups in behavioral health services – and sustain the services developed, 4C has developed the following goals and measurable objectives. 1) Increase the capacity of community members in the catchment area to recognize symptoms of mental illness and mental health crisis in youth and adults by providing Mental Health First Aid training to at least 2,475 (235 year 1, 560/year in years 2-5) and Question, Persuade, Refer training to at least 760 (120 year 1, 160/year in years 2-5) catchment area community members. 2) Increase the capacity of community members in the catchment area to effectively address the immediate needs of persons experiencing mental health crises by including role playing practice on when and how to engage with a person experiencing a mental health crisis and providing all participants with mobile crisis intervention services and other emergency contact information. 3) Increase capacity of the catchment area to refer persons with mental illness or experiencing a mental health crisis into the appropriate level of behavioral healthcare services with an emphasis increasing access to services for focus populations. This will be accomplished by a) training participants receiving a resource packet for assisting persons with mental illness, b) ensuring 4C’s Criminal Justice Liaisons, School-Based Development Specialists, and Regional Community Liaisons contact 95% of individuals referred by training participants and facilitate access to the level of services needed for 90% of those referred within 24 hours of referral, c) formalize MHFA/QPR training plans and referral systems with veteran-serving organizations in all counties, and d) increase the number of unduplicated new admissions to 4C by 5% in grant year 1 and 10% in grant years 2 through 5. 4) Develop a sustainability plan to build and maintain mental health awareness and referral to the appropriate level of care by sharing a project outcomes report with potential funding partners and to garner sustainable funding and support.

The Indiana 988 Workforce Expansion Project will expand 988 center workforce to meet the needs of improving communication and increasing 988 center capacities. Over 30,000 calls were received in 2021 with Vibrant projecting a 300% increase in 988 contacts over the initial year of 988 implementation. This project will ensure that Indiana can provide 988 call services 24/7 to Hoosiers across all 92 counties while building on the success of past Vibrant/Lifeline grants to further increase our in-state answer rate to 90 percent or higher. In addition, this project will expand our capacity through the development of multiple strategic plans which will help us respond to sudden volume increases, provide best practice follow-up services, expand all 988 centers in order to offer call, chat, and text services, and sustain our progress into the future. We will also identify comprehensive, standardized training which will be developed collaboratively between 988 and 911 PSAP centers to increase the interoperability of these emergency lines. Finally, this project will closely examine the quality of 988 services and identify ways to build off current strengths and maintain Lifeline key performance indicators.