Valley 88tal Health First Aid Responders

This project will provide Shenango Valley residents with the resources and instruction necessary to become mental health first aid responders. The project is twofold in that there will be training sessions for members of the community as well as library staff members, and that this grant will cover the cost of purchasing library materials that cover mental health. The project will start with a training on how to help 88 in a mental health crisis and then a training on how to help youth that are dealing with a mental health crisis. Participants will be given NNLM resources such as Caring for the Mind: 88tal Health Resources for Library Patrons and MedlinePlus Basics brochures. The grant will also include Caring for the Mind training for library staff, provided by NNLM staff. Additionally, the library will purchase books to add to our collection on mental health which will increase the publics access to this information. Due to issues and complications raised by the coronavirus, the library would like to add a virtual component to the project. We would like to offer the 88tal Health First Aid as a virtual program - to not only ensure the safety of all attendees and instructors, but also to allow for greater participation. This alternative plan will necessitate additional training of our Mercer County Behavioral Health instructors, adding $300 $150 each, plus possibly an increase per attendee, to the program budget. However, we feel that this is the best course of action in order to meet or surpass our goal of 30 participants. There are many mental health issues being reported due to current quarantine and stay-athome orders, and we feel that our program will be in greater demand because of these issues. Making the programs virtual will allow the library to expand the class limit without dealing with social distancing rules. Follow-ups after the 88tal Health First Aid courses will be done through a Doodle survey where attendees can voice their opinions on the relevancy of the training as well as what parts of the curriculum were the most helpful and least helpful. We will also make personal phone calls to attendees in the spring to follow up with resources that they may need, answer questions, or help with other issues. These actions will help ensure that the training has a lasting effect and create sustainability.