Resiliency Technologies and our partners at United Way of the Piedmont and SC Foster Parent Association began offering Sharpen® Mental Health Literacy 5 hour course to parents back in 2021 to help provide skills to improve resilience and emotional wellness. Recently the course was expanded to SC Department of Social Services learning management site for foster and adoptive parents: https://www.scparentslms.com/
SC foster parents receive 5 contact hours for this course which enables participants to identify and understand the ways to improve their own mental and emotional wellbeing. In particular, participants learn through over 75 documentary films featuring peers, experts and individuals with lived expertise (Hussa Farrell, 2023) the following topics:
1. The four pillars of a mental health literacy framework (Kutcher et al, 2016). The course provides participants with an overview of the protective factors for mental wellness, training on various mental health topics, history of mental health stigma, and best practices for assisting a child or loved one who is struggling.
2. Stress and brain functioning and how to can get ahead of challenges using evidence-based strategies.
3. Basics of mindfulness and sample “5 Minute Mindfulness” activities from the evidence-based curriculum which is rooted in mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and yoga practices that have been deployed in Resilient Schools for 5+ years in South Carolina
4. Guidelines and best practices for working with youth who come from traumatic backgrounds with a focus on supporting someone who may be struggling, highlighting the shared protective factors for resilience.
History of Sharpen Family toolkit for foster parents and families
Benefits.
Studies with the Sharpen Mental Health Literacy program have shown to decrease shame and stigma around mental disorders (Fadel et al, 2024) and have evolved six qualitative themes from the training effectiveness feedback including: 1) Help-Seeking (Berreta et al, 2023), 2) Stress Management (Biber, 2023), 3) Tailored Guidance to Resources, 4) Understanding Warning Signs, 5) Body Image Awareness, and 6) Engaging with Mentees (Biber & Rothman, 2023).
Foster parents (n = 142) in South Carolina participated in the study. The initial implementation of the Sharpen ® Mental Health Literacy training was effective in terms of feasibility of deployment, participant adherence, and average results for stress, resilience, and self-compassion. There was a statistically significant correlation between self-compassion and resilience (r = 0.75), as well as a significant negative relationship between perceived stress and resilience (r = -0.40) and self-compassion (r = -0.36). There were decreases in stress and increases in self-compassion and resilience from pre- to post-test (Biber, 2023).
References
Berreta, K., Nguyen, C., Stoner, A. M., Ridgeway, L., Wilson, A., Fadel, N., & Biber, D. (2023). A RE-AIM Analysis of a Mental Health App for Undergraduate and Medical Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(13), 6266. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20136266
Biber, D. (2023). The impact of an mhealth mental health literacy training for foster parents prepared for trends in psychology. Trends in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43076-023-00348-x
Biber, D., & Rothman, R. (2023). Mental health literacy training for college female peer mentors: A pilot study. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, 14(1), 181–191. https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-06-2023-0148
Fadel, N., Stoner, A., Berreta, K., et al. (2024) A Process Evaluation of a Mobile App for Medical Students Aimed at Increasing Resilience and Decreasing Stigma in Mental Health. Cureus 16(6): e63054. doi:10.7759/cureus.63054
Kutcher, S., Wei, Y., & Coniglio, C. (2016). Mental Health Literacy: Past, Present, and Future. Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie, 61(3), 154–158. https://doi.org/10.1177/0706743715616609
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