2024 Enhancing Mental Health Awareness and Resiliency Mini-Grant
OPI’s Coordinated School Health Unit announces the rollout of the 2024 Enhancing Mental Health Awareness and Resiliency mini-grant initiative under the SAMHSA Project AWARE grant, initially bestowed upon the Montana Office of Public Instruction (OPI) in 2020. This endeavor seeks to heighten awareness of mental health issues among school-aged youth and provide training for educators and other adults engaging with them, fostering improved detection and response to mental health challenges.
The mini-grant is thoughtfully structured to allocate vital funds to each participating site, facilitating professional development opportunities for all staff members. Through the FY24 AWARE Enhancing Mental Health Awareness and Resiliency grant, OPI aims to enhance staff comprehension of mental and behavioral health needs, ultimately bolstering educational outcomes by effectively addressing these concerns.
Training sessions, grounded in evidence-based practices, are scheduled to occur between April 1, 2024, and August 31, 2024. For further details on grant guidelines, eligibility criteria, and funding limitations, refer HERE. To apply for this funding opportunity, interested parties must complete the application and budget submission process via the designated Google form.
Since the inception of the grant, participating school districts have achieved notable success in delivering various mental health awareness and practice trainings, expanding their capability to identify and respond to behavioral health issues. Since September 2020, the state and its district collaborations have conducted training sessions benefiting 65,777 individuals directly involved with school-aged youth. These courses cover a wide array of topics aimed at enhancing the ability to address students' mental health needs. The introduction of this mini-grant offers an avenue for the 2020 Project AWARE grant to broaden its influence and outreach to all schools across Montana.
For more information contact Courtney Hubbs (406) 438-0473.
The School-Based Health Alliance announced a new learning collaborative on social determinants of health (SDOH) screening for children and adolescents. Info: https://www.sbh4all.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/SDOH-Screening-LC-Description-.pdf The goal of the initiative is to aid health centers in developing a sustainable screening practice. Participants will learn about the benefits of SDOH screening, how to create and implement a sustainable screening practice to advance child and adolescent health, and best practices for SDOH care coordination. The School-Based Health Alliance welcomes applications from school-based and community-based health centers (Health Center Programs and Look-Alikes) that do not provide SDOH screening for children and adolescents. Multiple sites from a health center may apply, but each site must complete a separate application. The link above has more info.
Vaping Prevention
Are you finding these in your schools? There aren't many schools in Montana that haven't been impacted by student vaping.
Dr. Beth Dominicis and Kris Minard are scheduling student vaping prevention presentations for the remainder of this school year and next. If you would like to inquire about presentations for this April, May, or June or for the 2024-25 school year please click here.
Age-appropriate presentations identifying the harms of youth vaping have been created for 4-5th grade, middle school, and high school students and are typically 30-40 minutes in length. Our goal is to reinforce tobacco use prevention education in Montana schools, to reinforce most students' decisions not to vape (or use other nicotine products), and to provide reasons and resources for quitting for those who do use. These presentations have been well received by students and school staff across the state.
For more information, contact Kris Minard or Beth Dominicis.
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The 3rd annual ReACT Summit is just around the corner, and Montana "Reactors" from grades 6-12 are excited to stand up against Big Tobacco from June 12-14th, 2024, at Carroll College in Helena, Montana. Medieval-themed events planned include lots of fun games like jousting and tug-o-war, a fashion show, and a banquet and ball. To learn more about the summit, visit mtreact.com or contact the ReACT Youth Engagement Specialist for the Montana Tobacco Use Prevention Program, Ashley Burke
Note: Registration by May 10, 2024, is required for youth and youth leaders.
The OPI is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation, require an alternate format, or have questions concerning accessibility, contact the OPI ADA Coordinator, 406-444-3161, opiada@mt.gov, Relay Service: 711.
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