MA Discretionary Funding Fiscal Year 2023

The Baystate Behavioral Health Center for Young Children and Families (CYCAF) at Baystate Health has the overarching goal of addressing critical gaps in services for infants and young children ages 0-5, prioritizing Latino children, who show early signs of or who have been diagnosed with mental illness including serious emotional disturbance (SED) and/or symptoms that may be indicative of developing SED, including children with a history of in-utero exposure to substances and their caregivers. CYCAF will achieve this goal in the following overlapping phases: 1. Increasing access to assessments and evidenced based practices (EBP) for treatment of early childhood mental health concerns for children 0-5 y/o and their caregivers by providing trauma informed mental health assessments (350 assessments over the course of the project), multigenerational evidenced-based therapy (250 children and families served over the course of the project) and access to a peer navigator with lived experience to help engagement, coordination of services and provide short term follow up (serving 375 families over the course of the project). 2. Providing specialized IECMH consultation to early childhood educational programs including direct care workers (50 group consultations a year using reflective supervision to improve engagement and decrease burnout in staff, 500 children served though on-demand classroom consultation) and building the capacity of infant and early child-serving service systems (CSSS) to identify, respond effectively to, and prevent mental illness in children 0-5y/o who are at risk for or have been diagnosed with mental illness and their caregivers by providing training in the Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood (DC-0-5), Collaborative Problem Solving, and special topics related to the target population (890 CSSS professionals trained over the course of the project). 3. Strengthening IECMH competence in the mental health workforce at all stages of career in order to promote sustainability by providing training in the following EBPs: Parent-Child Psychotherapy, Collaborative Problem Solving, Mothering from the Inside Out, as well as DC 0-5 for clinical professionals (122 mental health providers trained in the course of the grant) and incorporating IECHM didactics in mental health higher educational levels (psychiatry residents and fellows, psychology and social work students) and creating CYCAF rotations for two child psychiatry fellows and two psychology doctoral students a year in order to promote interest and increase competency early in their careers. Thus, CYCAF will address critical gaps in services for infants and young children with behavioral health needs with the ultimate goal to achieve better long-term outcomes for children and caregivers by identifying, and intervening with, children at an early age in order to prevent the development of SED.

At Cape Cod Community College, a rural college located on an island in Massachusetts, the purpose of the REACHOUT program is to create an infrastructure both internally and externally to meet the needs of students especially those with behavioral and mental health needs and serious emotional disturbances. The program aims to create a network of on and off campus resources to enhance mental health services for all our students, to prevent mental health and substance use disorder through early identification and intervention, to promote help-seeking behaviors. The primary goal is to create an infrastructure for best practice for identification, intervention, and treatment for all students with a focus on specific populations including veterans, LGBTQ, and those at risk for mental health or substance use disorder or at risk for suicide. Secondary goals include creating awareness in the college community around wellness and help-seeking behaviors for all students and enhancing our ability to administer screenings to the student population for early intervention. This will be achieved through trainings (QPR, Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), Safetalk, Trauma-Informed), screenings (AFSP), and dissemination of printed and digital online materials and information, and through the utilization of college wide resources and linkages with external community-based mental health organizations including those from the Regional Substance Use Council and the Behavioral Health Providers Coalition. Grant funded activities will run from September 2022-2025. The first half of year 1 will focus on building the infrastructure and network both on and off campus for our students by creating Memoranda of Agreements with community-based organizations to get more students the services that they need. The goal is to have the 24/7 support line available in the first half of year 1. The second half of year 1 will setting up a training and events calendar for all activities related to grant activity. In this second half of year 1 we will begin to conduct trainings and promote screenings, and positive mental health messaging. Year 2 will focus on trainings for faculty, staff and students (peer education and resiliency) and campus wide messaging with a production of a PSA. Year 2 will also see a screening campaign to encourage students to take a screening and follow up with a professional when necessary through our 24/7 student support line. Year 3 will consist of more trainings, encouraging self-screenings and ensuring the program’s sustainability beyond the grant period. Strategies include training and workshops, QPR, MHFA, and Safetalk, peer education and resiliency training for students, screenings and referrals, a campus wide campaign for distribution of resources and materials on help-seeking strategies and mental health resources. Outcomes include increased college-wide awareness of mental health and substance use disorders, a reduction in these behaviors, and familiarity with the support services available on campus and in the community. In all years we will have a Behavioral Health Summit to strengthen our knowledge and skills to serve students. All years will also have a networking event to strengthen our community partnerships Outcomes will include partnerships with 6 agencies, 7,500 individuals exposed to messaging, and 725 individuals trained in Mental Health & Substance Use related practices/activities to prevent suicide and promote mental health.

High Point Treatment Center's Adult and Youth Mental Health First Aid Training Program for Southeastern, Massachusetts seeks to increase access to mental health first aid training and resources in order to better respond to the growing needs around mental health in the region. The population to be served through the proposed program includes youth ages 6-18 and general community members. The first goal will be to train those who interact with youth and the general community to recognize signs and symptoms of mental illness and safely intervene with the use of crisis de-escalation techniques. The first objective will be to certify 16 local facilitators as Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) Instructors by February of 2022. The second objective will be to have the YMHFA Instructors train 300 unduplicated individuals by September of 2022. The third objective will be to have the YMHFA and MHFA Instructors train a total of 600 unduplicated individuals by September 2023. The second goal of the proposed program is to strengthen the region's referral system to mental health agencies in order to better refer individuals with signs or symptoms of mental illness. Objective 1 will be to develop and launch a printed and online mental health resource directory that will be disseminated to approximately 10,000 individuals in the region by September of 2022. The third and final goal will be to educate the community about mental health issues and community resources. The objective will be to launch a social marketing campaign that will reach approximately 15,000 individuals through social media platforms by September 2022. The number of people to be served in the first year of the grant is 25,300 individuals and throughout the lifetime of the grant approximately 128,015 will be served.

This MHAT project is focused on the general population of Hopkinton, promoting a unified effort to bring evidence based mental health awareness training to a diverse range of community gatekeepers (those in roles of influence with many individuals). Programming will serve to provide de-escalation methods, reduce stigma, enhance care, and provide clear pathways to access treatment and coordinate delivery of mental health awareness training and resources.

The MetroWest Evidence-based Trauma-Informed Referral & Treatment Initiative for Children (METRIC) will increase access to trauma-focused, evidence-based services for children and adolescents ages 2 to 18, and their families, in school and community-based settings in Waltham and surrounding MetroWest communities. Based at the Baker Center Waltham (BCW), a division of the Judge Baker Children's Center, this initiative will provide trauma-focused services to a projected 2,350 children and adolescents and their families during the five-year grant-period. The METRIC initiative includes collaboration among BCW expert staff, the Waltham Public Schools and NCTSI-II Centers, including the Child Trauma Training Center at UMass Medical Center. METRIC will include comprehensive screening; assessment, evidence-based trauma-focused treatment, training for school and outpatient clinicians, and referral systems to strengthen the infrastructure supporting the long-term needs of the community. METRIC's multilingual clinical staff will be trained in four evidence-based practices to meet the needs of children and adolescents impacted by traumatic stress. Throughout the five-year project, we will engage MetroWest stakeholders including schools, early care and education providers, pediatric providers, hospitals, child welfare staff, faith-based organizations, and other child-serving organizations through educational outreach, development of screening and referral mechanisms, and consultation. Metric will also employ a new Family Support Coordinator (FSC) at the Baker Center Waltham to assist parents and caregivers in navigating the treatment process and refer caregivers to needed community-based, culturally competent services. The FSC will also help families enroll in MassHealth (Medicaid) or private insurance as needed in order to ensure access to care. METRIC will add to the knowledge base of both the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative network and ongoing trauma-focused initiatives in Massachusetts such as the Childhood Trauma Task Force. We will work collaboratively with local and state leadership to promote high quality trauma-focused care for vulnerable children and families and derive important lessons learned from this initiative that can be applied across our Commonwealth. The METRIC initiative will positively impact thousands of underserved children and adolescents in Waltham and the MetroWest region of Boston. METRIC will improve the quality of trauma-focused care, further develop a trauma-informed system of care, and increase access for underserved populations including economically disadvantaged, Black and Latinx children and teens and LGBTQ+ youth. This five-year initiative will provide much needed support to vulnerable families for many years to come and through METRIC we will establish the necessary infrastructure and mechanisms to sustain this work into the future.