We all continue to hear the news of a mental health epidemic facing youth in our country. Most alarming, recent studies have shown that nearly 50% of young people in America with a mental health concern don’t receive treatment.
At Sharpen, we are committed to changing those statistics by ensuring as many educators, parents and children as possible have the tools they need to overcome stigma and increase knowledge about the resources available in their community. We know that the only way to accomplish this mission is to ensure that the most up to date, evidence-based research gets to our schools and communities. We do that by building content with the top minds in mental health and through partnerships with best-in-class service providers.
We are thrilled to announce a few more collaborations that will help us get more great resources to districts around the country faster.
Sharpen is very proud to partner with the South Carolina School Behavioral Health Academy to pair our evidence-based mental health courses with SBHA’s community of learning which is committed to ensure all schools are trained in mental health literacy and integrating behavioral health best practices into a district’s Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS). This exciting partnership will combine Sharpen’s award-winning technology toolkit with SBHA’s online learning portal to create a truly comprehensive service that will help build a healthier school environment for all students and educators.
In addition, Sharpen is happy to announce that we have recently partnered with the Archdiocese of New York Drug Abuse Prevention Program (ADAPP) to add our full library of mental health education training and resources to the wealth of programs that ADAPP has been offering to all schools in the state of New York for decades. In addition to the many suicide and substance use prevention services that ADAPP provides, they offer counseling and family support services in much of New York City and six other counties in the state. Sharpen is very proud to be recognized by this amazing organization that has been providing critical mental health services for over 50 years. This partnership with ADAPP and our ongoing collaboration with VNS Behavioral Health’s Safe Pathways program, funded by the New York State Office of Mental Health, means that Sharpen’s programs will have the potential to reach so many more youth and families throughout New York State.
On the other side of the country, Sharpen is a proud partner with California’s Trauma-Resilient Educational Communities (TREC). The leadership at TREC brings years of experience serving youth and communities affected by health disparities. They’ve channeled that energy and knowledge into a series of ACEs-aware educational trainings, which we are genuinely proud to supplement with our programs.
Finally, The Sharpen Mental Health Literacy (SMHL) program is now available as an evidence-based resource for high school students on the prestigious Chad’s Legacy Project site, aided by the expertise of the University of Washington School Mental Health Assessment Research and Training (SMART) Center.
The Sharpen Mental Health Literacy (SMHL) program has been incorporated into the comprehensive mental health education library, providing educators and school systems easy access to the very best in teen resiliency programming.
We will have much more news to share in the months ahead about all these exciting opportunities and all the other partnerships and research collaborations we have in the works!
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