Mental Health tools for NJ Health Connect

Building upon the goodwill and partnerships started with our statewide pandemic response program, NJ Health Connect @Your Library, New Jersey State Library (NJSL) will provide mental health trainings designed for librarians, and a digital toolkit for librarians and their patrons. NJ Health Connect is a three-year-old program that distributed iPads to 155 New Jersey public libraries. They were pre-loaded with 24/7 telemedicine apps of major hospital systems in the state, links to multilingual health information, , Zoom and Google apps for virtual doctor appointments; and crisis hotlines. Now, we will expand the program by focusing on mental health outreach and education for adults and youth. New mental health resources and apps, vetted by a team of certified consumer health librarians at the East Brunswick Public, will be added to the iPads. These resources will also be packaged as a virtual toolkit that any library can add to their webpage, or link to at NJSL’s website. The Mental Health Association of New Jersey has agreed to design and record targeted for seminars, totaling nearly eight hours of training, developed for library staff. We will sponsor webinars to introduce each of these and afterwards they will be available to watch on demand.