Southwest Behavioral & Health Services Receives Grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Southwest Behavioral & Health Services Receives Grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Mental Health First Aid Training To Be Offered in Schools and Community-Based Settings
(PHOENIX – March 5, 2019) – Southwest Behavioral & Health Services (SB&H), an innovative leader in behavioral health, has received a three-year, $125,000/year grant from The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The funds will be used to support the organization’s mental health first aid training program in school and community-based settings throughout Arizona.
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is an 8-hour course that gives people the skills to help someone who may be developing a mental health problem or is experiencing a mental health crisis. The training program teaches individuals how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance-use disorders. Just as CPR training helps individuals assist someone following a heart attack, Mental Health First Aid training helps individuals assist someone experiencing a mental health crisis, such as contemplating suicide. Trainees are taught how to apply a five-step strategy in a variety of situations, such as helping someone through a panic attack or assisting someone who has overdosed.
“The SAMHSA grant lets us bring a valuable resource to an audience that really needs it,” said Lynda Riford, Marketing Director at Southwest Behavioral & Health Services. “The Mental Health First Aid training helps take the fear and hesitation out of starting a conversation about mental health. It provides the necessary tools so individuals know how to listen, evaluate and act on any potential mental health crisis.”
Over the next three years, SB&H will provide MHFA training to individuals in school and community-based settings throughout Maricopa County. Offered at no cost, the training will be conducted by trainers certified through the National Council for Behavioral Health.
More information about Mental Health First Aid is available on the Southwest Behavioral & Health Services website at www.sbhservices.org. Individuals or groups in school and community-based settings that are interested in scheduling training are encouraged to contact Maddie Martinez at 602-733-2301 or via email at madelynem@sbhservices.org.
About Southwest Behavioral & Health Services
Incorporated in 1974 as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, Southwest Behavioral & Health Services (SB&H) is a leader in the development and delivery of services in the areas of housing, residential care, prevention services, outpatient services to children, incarcerated persons and dually diagnosed adults (SMI/SA). An innovative leader in behavioral health, services are client directed-outcome informed, evidence-based and include treatment of co-occurring disorders, the FAST model in prevention services, the Arizona Treatment Initiative for children and families, and the Recovery Model for persons with serious mental illness. SB&H provides services in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, rural Maricopa County, Gila, Mohave, Coconino, and Yavapai counties. For more information, visit www.sbhservices.org.
