Behavioral Health Equity Challenge – Outreach and Engagement Strategies for Underserved Racial and Ethnic Communities
Check this out from the NNED National Facilitation Center!
Introducing SAMHSA’s Behavioral Health Equity Challenge: Outreach and Engagement Strategies for Underserved Racial and Ethnic Communities organized by the Office of Behavioral Health Equity’s Elevate CBOs Initiative. This Challenge aims to identify and highlight community-based organizations’ (CBO) innovative outreach and engagement strategies that improve these communities’ access to behavioral health services. As CBOs often play an important role in addressing the community’s behavioral health needs, this Challenge will inform SAMHSA about community-based strategies to connect people to care. The Challenge fund has $500,000 available for up to ten awards through this competition. The challenge prize for each winner is expected to be $50,000, plus multiple opportunities for recognition. Submissions are due by 5:00 pm EDT on June 8, 2023.

Mental Health First Aid: A Systematic Review of Trainee Behavior and Recipient Mental Health Outcomes
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is a globally disseminated course that trains members of the public to recognize and respond to mental health issues in their communities. Although substantial evidence suggests that MHFA training is associated with positive changes in knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intent, little is known about how MHFA trainee–delivered aid supports mental health needs. This systematic review sought to summarize the extant research evaluating MHFA trainees’ helping behaviors and the impacts of these behaviors on people experiencing a mental health problem. The findings indicate that there is insufficient current evidence that MHFA improves the helping behaviors of trainees or the mental health of those receiving helping behaviors. They highlight a crucial research gap that should be prioritized as MHFA grows in popularity.

Factors that Influence the Continuous Pursuit of Education, Training, and Employment among Young Adults with Serious Mental Health Conditions
Young adults (ages 18–30) with serious mental health conditions (SMHC) often face challenges in their education, training, and employment pursuits. The study describes young adult patterns of education, training, and employment activities and identifies modifiable factors that hinder or facilitate their ability to pursue these activities consistently. Based on first-person narratives, these findings should inform psychiatric rehabilitation efforts that support young adults’ school, training, and work activities with SMHC to improve their long-term career trajectories.

Fostering Youth Transitions 2023
State and National Data to Drive Foster Care Advocacy
New report from The Annie E. Casey Foundation
While in recent years, the Chafee program and the Family First Prevention Services Act have made positive changes to promote kinship care and align foster care policy with healthy adolescent and young adult development, the data show that our government systems must do better. And the solutions are within our grasp. Practitioners and policymakers must work on two fronts: support families to prevent older youth from entering foster care; and redesign systems to meet the needs of youth and young adults in foster care today, enabling them to become thriving adults tomorrow. As the number of young people entering foster care declines, policymakers, practitioners, and advocates must seize the opportunity to engage these youth, understand what is and is not working in states, and make strategic investments in the future.

Making a Case for Prevention
Join me in celebrating one of our interns from the University of South Florida, Jocilynne Jepson, as she tackles the conundrum of the lack of significant funding for prevention services, even though research shows its overwhelmingly positive impact. This is the first of a two-part Morning Zen series.

Now Recruiting: AAP Pediatric Mental Health Care: Access and Capacity Building in Primary Care ECHO
This ECHO program will focus on supporting pediatric primary care professionals (PCP) to increase their knowledge, competence, and confidence in providing behavioral and mental health care to pediatric patients and their families. The emphasis will be placed on pediatric PCPs to develop and implement effective strategies to foster long-term relational health and healthy mental development as well as identify, treat, and manage mental and behavioral health concerns in the primary care setting, with a specific focus on utilization of Pediatric Mental Health Care Access (PMHCA) programs. This 6 session ECHO will be held on the 2^nd and 4^th Wednesday of the month at 11am CT/12pm ET/10am MT/9am PT. ECHO sessions will be held on: June 28, July 12, July 26, August 9, August 23, September 13.

Can After-School Programs Help Children Recover From the Pandemic?
Last July, more than two years into a pandemic that roiled school districts nationwide, the U.S. Department of Education launched the Engage Every Student Initiative. Multiple partner organizations, including Afterschool Alliance, the School Superintendents Organization, and the National League of Cities, provide connections and assistance to communities wishing to expand access to after-school and summer learning offerings.

Climate Change and Children’s Health and Well-Being in the United States Report
Our climate is changing, and the health and well-being of children will continue to be affected in many ways. Children are uniquely vulnerable to climate change due to a variety of physical, cognitive, behavioral, and social factors. Climate change-related impacts in childhood can have lifelong consequences due to effects on learning, physical health, chronic disease, and other complications. This national-scale, multi-sector report quantifies projected health effects associated with extreme heat, air quality, changing seasons, flooding, and infectious diseases. Where possible, the analyses consider the extent to which these risks disproportionately fall on children from overburdened populations.

Recommendations for Tailored Youth Suicide Prevention Efforts
Research shows that youth of color and LGBTQ+ youth are at higher risk of suicide than White and heterosexual youth, which suggests the importance of tailoring prevention approaches to the populations most in need of support. Child Trends’ new brief offers recommendations to help community-based organizations tailor their youth suicide prevention efforts to these populations’ unique needs and strengths.

FindSupport.gov Launches for Mental Health Awareness Month
FindSupport.gov—a site designed to help you answer questions and find support for issues with mental health, drugs, or alcohol, was launched last week. Check it out and get started on your journey to better mental health today.

Behavioral Health Care in the United States: How It Works and Where It Falls Short
New Report from the Commonwealth Fund!
Behavioral health generally refers to promoting mental well-being and preventing and treating mental health and substance use concerns. An individual’s level of behavioral health can fall anywhere on the spectrum from illness to positive mental well-being, and it can vary throughout a lifetime.

HHS Announces Additional $200 Million in Funding for 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), today announced more than $200 million in new funding for states, territories, and tribes to build local capacity for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and related crisis services.

Digital Shareables on Child and Adolescent Mental Health
Mental health is an important part of overall health for children and adolescents. Many adults with mental disorders had symptoms that were not recognized or addressed in childhood or adolescence. Help raise awareness about the importance of children’s mental health and early diagnosis and treatment by sharing information and materials based on the latest research.

5 Tips for Designing School Spaces That Support Students’ Mental Health
As more students struggle with depression, anxiety, and stress more than three years into the COVID-19 pandemic, schools are prioritizing mental health support. But as schools invest in counselors and social-emotional learning, small improvements to the physical environment can also make a difference.