H79SM086285

Oregon Project Aware: Strengthening Mental Health in Education

The Strengthening Mental Health in Education Initiative (SMHIE) addresses the considerable need for a robust, community-driven, linguistically, and culturally responsive behavioral health infrastructure in Oregon school communities. The work is guided by Oregon Department of Education's (ODE) Integrated Model of Mental Health (IMMH), which roots mental health promotion, and suicide and substance use prevention efforts in 4 key pillars of practice: (a) strengths-based, (b) trauma-informed, (c) SEL-focused, and (d) equity-centered.

The proposed Project AWARE work will augment Oregon's SMHIE initiative by fortifying state and local project management infrastructure and extending the existing ESSER III-funded 2-year project period to 5 years. Project AWARE resources will support additional community engagement, co-design, and program development, extend the implementation, iterative evaluation, quality improvement, and sustainability phases, and provide additional state and local project management capabilities.

The initiative will serve roughly 560,917 public school students, 70,198 staff, 2,340 administrators, and CBOS that support Oregon's 197 school districts, and consist of 4 primary components:

1. Increasing mental health literacy via an asynchronous, digital learning educational program and accompanying resources.
2. Developing and deploying credentialed, behavioral health courses and professional learning communities.
3. Co-designing and implementing a Community Care Project (CCP) to enhance behavioral health infrastructure in 4 school districts that represent the racial/ethnic, linguistic, geographic, and socio-demographic diversity of Oregon's school communities.
4. Understanding formative and summative project impact and recommendations for implementation, sustainability, and continuous quality improvement.

Implementation efforts will be guided by ODE's Community Engagement Toolkit and the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, and Sustainment (EPIS) Framework. The engagement toolkit provides a systematic strategy for engaging communities in the decision-making and co-design processes. The EPIS Framework builds on this engagement approach by accounting for and documenting the multilayered and interactive nature of the socioecological context of mental health promotion and suicide prevention across and within Oregon's school districts.

This project will also rely heavily on research-practice partnerships (RPP) that promote long-term collaborations among community partners. The RPP approach incorporates research into decision-making so that goals for addressing district needs focus on addressing meaningful problems of practice. RPPs will be applied according to tenets of Design-Based Implementation Research (DBIR), where implementation and research teams closely partner with districts and school staff in a co-design process to ensure continuous engagement between researchers and practitioners.

Measurable outcomes include increased mental health literacy, better identification of youth needing support, improved service referral, augmented suicide prevention, intervention and postvention efforts, enhanced student and staff health and well-being, school climates embodying belonging, care, and connection, fewer disciplinary referrals, and improved academic success.

Oregon Department Of Education

SAMHSA WAS GIVEN THE AUTHORITY TO ADDRESS PRIORITY SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT, PREVENTION AND MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS OF REGIONAL AND NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE THROUGH ASSISTANCE (GRANTS AND COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS) TO STATES, POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS OF STATES, INDIAN TRIBES AND TRIBAL ORGANIZATIONS, AND OTHER PUBLIC OR NONPROFIT PRIVATE ENTITIES. UNDER THESE SECTIONS, CSAT, CMHS AND CSAP SEEK TO EXPAND THE AVAILABILITY OF EFFECTIVE SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT AND RECOVERY SERVICES AVAILABLE TO AMERICANS TO IMPROVE THE LIVES OF THOSE AFFECTED BY ALCOHOL AND DRUG ADDITIONS, AND TO REDUCE THE IMPACT OF ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE ON INDIVIDUALS, FAMILIES, COMMUNITIES AND SOCIETIES AND TO ADDRESS PRIORITY MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS OF REGIONAL AND NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE AND ASSIST CHILDREN IN DEALING WITH VIOLENCE AND TRAUMATIC EVENTS THROUGH BY FUNDING GRANT AND COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT PROJECTS. GRANTS AND COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS MAY BE FOR (1) KNOWLEDGE AND DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION PROJECTS FOR TREATMENT AND REHABILITATION AND THE CONDUCT OR SUPPORT OF EVALUATIONS OF SUCH PROJECTS, (2) TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, (3) TARGETED CAPACITY RESPONSE PROGRAMS (4) SYSTEMS CHANGE GRANTS INCLUDING STATEWIDE FAMILY NETWORK GRANTS AND CLIENT-ORIENTED AND CONSUMER RUN SELF-HELP ACTIVITIES AND (5) PROGRAMS TO FOSTER HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN, (6) COORDINATION AND INTEGRATION OF PRIMARY CARE SERVICES INTO PUBLICLY-FUNDED COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH CENTERS AND OTHER COMMUNITY-BASED BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SETTINGS

93.243 - Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance

Division of Grants Management [HHS - SAMHSA]

Salem, Oregon 973101341 United States

Single Zip Code

Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resiliency in Education) (SM-22-001)

COVID-19 $3,928,913 (100%) percent of this Project Grant was funded by COVID-19 emergency acts including the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
Amendment Since initial award the End Date has been shortened from 09/29/27 to 01/13/26 and the total obligations have increased 439% from $728,404 to $3,928,913.