H79SM088031

Wisconsin Project Aware 2023 - The purpose of Wisconsin's Aware 2023 project is to:
1. Increase the implementation of comprehensive school mental health in rural communities.
2. Improve the quality of services for all students, especially those who are marginalized.

This project will address the challenges rural communities face in providing comprehensive multi-level strategies and supports to school-aged children and youth. Two local education agencies (LEA) will partner with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (WDPI) to implement the Wisconsin School Mental Health Framework, creating sustainable systems to provide mental health literacy and stigma reduction, screen and identify students in need of more intensive services, and establish crisis protocols to support students in immediate need of treatment.

Wisconsin's most recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey (2021) data confirms that our students continue to be experiencing significant emotional distress, particularly students of color, lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender (LGBT) students, and students who identify as female. The School District of Crandon and the Wabeno Area School District enroll 1,260 students. Fifteen percent of those students identified as LGBT, 29 percent American Indian (AI), and 55 percent white. Twenty-seven percent of students reported self-harm including 35 percent of AI students, 68 percent of LGBT students, and 39 percent of females. Twenty-two percent of AI students reported at least one suicide attempt, as did 26 percent of LGBT students and 15 percent of females. This data is heartbreaking and a strong motivator to action.

Wisconsin Project Aware 2023 will address the mental health challenges faced by our most vulnerable students in the partner LEAs and rural communities across Wisconsin. The project's design will utilize regional agencies to provide additional coaching and training support to their local school districts. The regional agency will support, at minimum, two LEAs per year of the grant, making the number of students served approximately 4,892 students annually and approximately 20,000 students over the life of the grant.

The WDPI along with our state mental health agency (SMHA) partner, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, will support LEAs to create strong community collaborations. This process will create a system of care approach and improve cross-agency coordination, making access to needed services more seamless for students and families.

Working with a team coach, LEAs will fully implement a system that includes multi-levels of support, focused on promoting well-being, and providing secondary prevention and brief intervention services; creating a crisis response protocol that enables the school and community to support immediate mental health needs of children and youth. Using continuous quality improvement cycles, LEAs will be able to quickly respond to actions and strategies that are not working and make necessary changes.

Wisconsin expects to see reductions in the number of students reporting suicide ideation, increases in the number of LEAs who implement comprehensive mental health systems that are trauma-informed and culturally responsive, improvements in policies supporting marginalized youth, and improvements in the quality of the services provided across the rural communities participating in the grant project.

Wisconsin Department Of Public Instruction

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]

Madison, Wisconsin 53707 United States

Single Zip Code

Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resiliency in Education) Program (SM-23-001)