Two Kansas mental health advocacy, education, and support organizations are offering 15 virtual or in-person training programs to parents, caregivers, school staff, K-12 students, and community organizations in 70 counties to help them cope with the mental impact of experiencing and surviving a natural disaster. Outreach and service provision for the program, known as “Strong Communities for Trying Times,” is shared by the Mental Health Association of South Central Kansas (MHASCK) and Mental Health America of the Heartland (MHAH).
“While the federal grant we received was not initially designed to address the “disaster” of the pandemic, the need for clear information, strategies to cope with disasters of all types, and ways to build resilience in the face of difficulty, has only increased due to COVID-19,” Susan Lewis, MSSW, MHAH president/CEO said. “The need for and impact of these sessions is profound, and we are pleased at the partnerships that have enabled these services to be delivered in our communities.”
Kay Burnett, MHASCK director of prevention and monitoring, explained, “Our goal is to help participants identify mental health resources available in their community and to help them feel more comfortable seeking help if needed.”
bhworks, the comprehensive, validated software platform from mdlogix, is the technology that establishes online training registration, generates new pre- and post- evaluation forms, collects and stores those responses, and produces a certificate of completion.
The Kansas Department of Aging & Disabilities Services (KDADS) worked with Drexel University’s Center for Family Intervention Science and the two MHAs last August to write and submit an application for a federal disaster relief grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The one-year funding was awarded in September 2020. The project is focused on improving the mental health of children and adolescents affected by natural disasters in 2019, including tornados and flooding. These weather events created damage in 70 of 105 Kansas counties, most of which exist in rural or frontier areas.
Program activities are supporting the development and implementation of a school- based comprehensive plan of strategies that provide training, education and technology to school districts, mental health providers, and community members.
Training course descriptions and schedules are posted on the newly-established website, the Behavioral Health Learning Collaborative (BHLC) of Kansas, bhlcofks.org. Burnett said popular school sessions in her region include “Positive Minds” for 4th and 5th graders and high school students, which helps them mentally deal with difficult issues. For adults, such as teachers and parents, a popular session is “Disorders, Not Bad Behaviors,” which helps people identify what is a typical behavior or normal response to a disaster versus a mental health disorder in children and teens.
In the Heartland region, “Positive Minds” is popular among middle and high schoolers, as is “A.N.S.W.E.R.” (Adolescents Never Suicide When Everyone Responds), which focuses on depression, anxiety and suicide and promotes help seeking. “QPR” (Question, Persuade, Respond), which focuses on suicide prevention, has been particularly popular among school staff in that same region.
MHA staff contact schools, community organizations like the Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs, and nonprofits. The two MHAs meet twice a month to compare notes and share updates. The curriculum each MHA provides mirrors the other, conducting the same training sessions and issuing the same evaluation forms.
Outreach starts with an email and after a week they follow up with either a phone call or email. On the third attempt, they either call or send a letter. Burnett suggests patience in outreach efforts as it takes fostering relationships to get responses, and to be cognizant of how often you are contacting them.
“We have stretched our community outreach to include sites that we had not previously considered, including domestic violence shelters, rehabilitation centers, foster care sites, and colleges and tech schools,” Burnett said. “These are groups that weren’t initially on our radar but they have been extremely receptive.”
Popular sessions with community groups are “QPR” and “More than Sad,” a course that teaches adults how to manage teen depression and anxiety.
With bhworks, participants are able to register for training and complete an evaluation for each session. There are approximately 10 questions on the assessment forms, asking, for example, “Are you more likely to seek help now that you have completed this session?”
Because of their age, kindergarten to 3rd grade students do not complete evaluations.
The program has encountered some challenges since its inception as COVID restrictions and on-line schooling at times complicated outreach and scheduling.
Lewis noted, “The staff of both MHAs are to be commended on their persistence, creativity, and flexibility, as well as their commitment to do whatever it takes to get this important information to our parents, teachers, kids and communities.”
“I do believe it’s working. It’s great we are able to do things virtually, but technology can present challenges,” Burnett added. “WiFi can be unreliable, kids turn their camera off, or the audio isn’t clear when participants are in a big room. Providing the courses in person is ideal because we can better gauge learning.”
Despite challenges, the MHAs of Kansas set a goal for the two regions to train 1,250 people each by the end of October 2021. As of August 10, that goal was exceeded and more than 2,800 people have taken a training session.
KDADS requested a 9-month, no-cost extension of the SAMHSA grant, which ends in October 2021, to finish work that is underway. The request was recently accepted and now the grant will extend through June 30, 2022.
To learn more about the Kansas training program and its various sessions, please contact Kay Burnett at Kburnett@mhasck.org or Stacy Davis at sdavis@mhah.org.