PW Discretionary Funding Fiscal Year 2023

The long term outcome of Mental Health Awareness Project for Palau (MHAPP) is to increase access to appropriate mental health services in the catchment and to improve level of functioning for the population of focus by implementing mental health first aid. The population of focus include: 1) children with serious emotional disturbance, 2) individuals with serious mental illness, 3) military and veterans, and 4) minority ethnic groups in outlying areas with limited access.

Palau PFS III Project will continue to scale up evidenced based efforts to prevent and reduce substance misuse among all indigenous youth in Palau between 12-20 years of age through enhancing infrastructure, improving staff/community capacity, and building a "community partnership prevention delivery system" that converts prevention science into widespread community practice. This project will serve the entire population of Palau throughout all five program years which amounts to approximately 15,200 people for the entire project period. The goals of the project are to: 1) build behavioral health prevention systems to prevent, reduce and/or delay the onset of, and mitigate, symptoms and complications from substance abuse; 2) develop a strong Needs Assessment; 3) increase capacity for social media awareness of mental health wellness and substance misuse; 4) Increase capacity to implement the Strengthening Families Program; and 5) ensure cultural adaptation for health access and health equity. Objectives for this goal include strengthening and enhancing the Substance Abuse Prevention System through infrastructure development, workforce development and staff capacity development, and community group and partner agency capacity development, strengthening and enhancing the Substance Abuse Prevention System through the development and implementation of an evidence-based national prevention network, implementation of a comprehensive set of evidence-based environmental strategies, and implementation of a comprehensive set of evidence-based programs aimed at increasing the resilience of Palau’s youth and strengthening family support systems.