University of Colorado Denver receives $200K Center for Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Mental health education, awareness, and literacy for coloradans (mhealco) - the trip program at the university of Colorado school of medicine’s kempe center will implement the 3-year mental health education, awareness, and literacy for coloradans project in partnership with centennial mental health center and the Colorado office of school safety. Mhealco will serve 37 school districts in cheyenne, elbert, kit carson, lincoln, logan, morgan, phillips, sedgwick, Washington, and yuma counties in rural northeastern Colorado, where workforce shortages, transportation barriers, long travel distances, stigma, and limited specialty services impede access. The project will train educators, school mental health and support staff, school resource officers, public health and law enforcement personnel, youth-serving professionals, caregivers, and other trusted adults who interact with youth and families. Training will use classroom wise, comet, asist, question, persuade, refer, and sources of strength. All participating school communities will establish implementation teams, complete needs assessments, develop standardized referral protocols, and use referral tracking and continuous quality improvement. Mhealco will train at least 900 participants in mental health awareness and literacy and at least 300 professionals in suicide prevention and crisis response, achieve at least 85% improvement in knowledge and confidence, and prepare at least 10 trainers through a train-the-trainer model, coaching, and communities of practice.