Advancing Teen Mental Health

In spring, PEI Kids was chosen by The National Council for Mental Wellbeing to be one of seven New Jersey sites testing a pilot program centered on Teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA).  

TMHFA focuses on teaching teens how to recognize, understand and respond to peers struggling with mental health or substance use challenges before they become a mental health crisis. The pilot program sets out to expand the reach of these practices by providing organizations with a Toolkit for community-wide implementation.

The Community-Wide Implementation Toolkit will include best practices for community-wide Implementation informed by formative research, implementation science, and feedback from pilot sites. The implementation model includes six Core Principles: Community Readiness, Strategic Planning, Funding, Community Collaboration, Implementation Plan, Monitoring & Evaluation.

As a pilot site, PEI Kids plays an important role in evaluating the Toolkit’s efficacy by exploring and providing feedback on its content, format, and design. The final Toolkit will be disseminated to organizations to support community-wide Youth and Teen MHFA implementation goals and capacity building efforts.

PEI Kids launched the tMHFA program in 2021 for Mercer County high-school students as part of a 2-year state-wide pilot program. Roz Dashiell, Executive Director, explains “As a model site, our tMHFA program is responding to tremendous need in the community. Having delivered teen Mental Health First Aid training to more than 6,000 high school students throughout Mercer County,  we’re excited about the promise of expanding the impact of this program through community-wide implementation, resources, and support.”

For more information on our tMHFA program, click here. For resources on helping a youth who may be struggling with a mental health challenge, visit the tMHFA Resources page of our website. For a mental health emergency, call 9-8-8.