Mental Health First Aid USA, April 15, 2024
media contact
Irene Tan
IreneT@TheNationalCouncil.org
771-215-5853
Washington DC (April 15, 2024) – In a ceremony held at the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Summit in St. Louis on April 14, the National Council on Mental Welfare acknowledged that: Arkansas Rural Health Partnership, Humana Foundation, west care foundation We would like to thank the four MHFA instructors and coordinators for their hard work in expanding MHFA’s reach in the local community and beyond.
The annual MHFA Impact Awards include Organization of the Year, Partner of the Year, Excellence, Instructor of the Year, and Coordinator of the Year, and are committed to changing the conversation around mental health. We celebrate individuals and groups who have made an impact on our community. . Key criteria used to determine MHFA Impact Award winners include the number of individuals trained at MHFA, measurable impact, and excellence and effectiveness during the delivery of the training course .
“The 2024 Impact Award winners are being celebrated for their creative and thoughtful work delivering MHFA training to community members,” said MHFA Vice President Tramaine El Amin. “The Arkansas Rural Health Partnership, Humana Foundation, and WestCare Foundation are exemplifying what it means to be leaders in changing the national conversation about human services, and the National Council is committed to supporting the nation’s We are grateful for their support in empowering people to help each other through MHFA. ”
The 2024 Impact Award winners are:
Organization of the Year: This award recognizes groups that have implemented creative solutions to scale MHFA inside and outside their organizations.
- Arkansas Rural Health Partnership: The Arkansas Rural Health Partnership (ARHP) is a nonprofit health care network comprised of 18 rural hospital members, three medical education institutions, and two federally qualified health centers located throughout rural Arkansas. Over the past six years, through MHFA, ARHP has trained more than 2,000 Arkansans to identify, understand, and respond to symptoms of mental health and substance use issues. Some of the creative solutions we have implemented to expand MHFA’s reach include partnering with healthcare providers, local universities, education departments, public safety agencies, Girl Scout troops, and insurance companies.
Partner of the Year: This award is given to a strategic partner of the National Council who has been a champion of MHFA and has supported the growth of the program.
- Humana Foundation: The Humana Foundation drives evidence-based collaborations and investments that advance health equity and help people in underserved communities live connected, healthy lives. The National Council recently awarded the Humana Foundation Health Equity Innovation Fund to develop the MHFA Community Implementation Toolkit for Adults. It provides the community with essential best practices, tools, resources, and recommendations to sustainably implement MHFA. This grant will support the development, research, testing, and launch of the MHFA toolkit over the next three years.
Outstanding performance award: Introduced this year, the award recognizes organizations that have demonstrated excellence in delivering MHFA training, from strategy and support to implementation.
- Westcare Foundation: WestCare Foundation is a comprehensive behavioral health and human services agency serving 17 states and three U.S. territories. The organization offers in-person, virtual, and blended MHFA courses to provide training to special populations such as veterans, active military, military families, local public safety departments, and school districts. WestCare has partnered with the Nevada Office of Suicide Prevention to ensure that every school in the Clark County district with more than 300 students has at least one adult trained in Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA). Did. Their tireless efforts have culminated in her training over 15,000 people across the country.
MHFA Instructor and Coordinator of the Year: “Instructors and coordinators make vital contributions to the National Council’s mission to make mental health, including recovery from mental health and substance use problems, a reality for all.” EL-Amin he said. “By training people in our communities with MHFA, our instructors serve as a vital link to ensuring that every person in America has close friends, family, and confidants they can turn to for support.”
- Adult mental health first aid: Nikita Joslin, LMSW, is the Director of Business Development at The Connection, a human development agency in Connecticut. Nikita has been his MHFA certified instructor for adults, youth, and teens since 2016. She has worked to spread her MHFA to other nonprofit organizations, universities, and state government agencies, and has trained over 1,600 individuals. Nikita was named the top her MHFA instructor in the state of Connecticut in 2022 and she is in 2023. She also leads and mentors her growing team of MHFA instructors in the state. Nikita is dedicated to her belief that MHFA training is transformative in reducing stigma and emphasizing the shared social responsibility of individuals to provide support to those in need. .
- Youth mental health first aid: Alana Holm, MSW, is currently a Peer Support Program Coordinator at Compeer Buffalo in Buffalo, New York. She has been promoting her MHFA training since 2014 and is certified as her MHFA instructor for adults, youth, and her teens. In both 2019 and her 2020, she was recognized as New York’s top her MHFA trainer.
- Mental Health First Aid region specific courses: EdRicardo J. Gándara, a community educator with Emergence Health Network, has been an MHFA instructor since 2015 and is MHFA certified in adults, youth, and teens. Ed Ricardo, a former El Paso County Sheriff’s Office detention officer, continues to teach a mental health stigma reduction course at the Sheriff’s Academy.
- Coordinator of the Year: Amy Anderson, MHFA Grants Director/Coordinator/Training Specialist at Hill Country Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Center (MHDDC), for facilitating MHFA training in the 19 Texas counties and over 33,000 miles covered by MHDDC. was awarded. Amy is certified in all her MHFA modules and has trained over 1,000 teens in her MHFA.
Since the National Council of Nations introduced the MHFA program to the United States in 2008, more than 3 million people across the United States have received MHFA training. Read more about the MHFA Instructor role and apply to become an MHFA Instructor today.
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About the National Council
Founded in 1969, the National Council on Mental Welfare advocates policy and social change on behalf of more than 3,400 mental health and substance use treatment organizations and the more than 10 million children, adults, and families they serve. A member organization that promotes We advocate for policies that ensure equitable access to quality services. We build the capacity of mental health and substance use treatment agencies. And we advance the understanding of mental health as a core component of total health and health care. Through our Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) program, we have trained more than 3 million people in the United States to identify, understand, and respond to the signs and symptoms of mental health and substance use problems.
