Health agency given $625,000 for mental-health training

The Arkansas Rural Health Partnership received $625,000 to address growing mental health concerns.

The money will be used to provide mental health awareness training to area college students and staff.

Training will be provided in coordination with Southeast Arkansas College, Phillips Community

College and University of Arkansas at Monticello, according to a news release.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration funding is designed to provide targeted training for individuals to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental health crises and connect people to needed resources.

ARHP is a nonprofit organization of 14 rural hospital members including sites in Southeast Arkansas.

The agency received one of 145 awards from SAMHSA this month, according to the release.

SAMHSA funding will support ARHP staff to provide training in Mental Health First Aid, an evidence-based model, to professionals serving college students, faculty, administrators, staff, coaches, healthcare staff and athletes.

Individuals in need of care will be referred to behavioral health services throughout the region.

Training and services will be delivered across these Southeast Arkansas counties: Jefferson, Lonoke, Prairie, Monroe, Lee, Phillips, Arkansas, Lincoln, Desha, Chicot, Drew, Bradley, Ashley, Union, Columbia, Ouachita, Dallas, Cleveland and Grant.

The funding is designed to provide targeted training for individuals to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental-health crises and connect them to needed resources, according to the release.

Amanda Kuttenkuler, ARHP Mental Health outreach project director, explained expectations.

“The project will look to

meet two goals: (1) Increase the capacity of local college and healthcare partners to appropriately support and respond to the mental health needs of college students, and (2) increase the number of college students prepared in evidence-based programs to recognize the mental health needs of their peers and connect them to needed resources,” Kuttenkuler said. “Over the next five years, we will have the opportunity to train over

6,000 local college students and those serving college students in mental health awareness and suicide prevention training.”

ARHP Chief Executive Officer Mellie Bridewell discussed the program’s benefits.

“Our office has received numerous calls to tell us that this training has already saved lives,” Bridewell said. “Imagine the impact: train just one person, and you have an amazing ripple effect. We are thrilled to have additional opportunities to share this information with local college students and those serving college students in the region, particularly as covid-19 has recently increased this need.”

Keith Pinchback, Ed.D., is chancellor of Phillips Community College, one of the sites promoting the project.

“On behalf of Phillips College, we are thrilled to participate as one of three local college partners in this five-year project. Save Our Students will address the challenge of growing mental health concerns in college students from two critical vantage points: by training college faculty, administration and staff members, as well as college students themselves in mental health awareness and suicide prevention training,” Pinchback said.

In 2016, ARHP conducted Community Health Needs Assessments for its rural hospital members. The data unanimously prioritized behavioral health as the highest concern.

ARHP members include Ashley County Medical Center, Baptist Health Stuttgart, Bradley County Medical Center, Chicot Memorial Medical Center, Dallas County Medical Center, Delta Memorial Hospital, DeWitt Hospital and Nursing Home, Drew Memorial Health System, Helena Regional Medical Center, Jefferson Regional Medical Center, Magnolia Regional Medical Center, McGehee Hospital, Medical Centers of South Arkansas, and Ouachita Regional Medical Center along with two federally qualified health systems (Mainline Health Systems and Mid Delta Health System).

“Our office has received numerous calls to tell us that this training has already saved lives. Imagine the impact: train just one person and you have an amazing ripple effect.”

— Mellie Bridewell, ARHP Chief Executive Officer