Sharpen Mental Health Literacy (SMHL)
An evidence-based mental health literacy education and resiliency program
Why SMHL?
In response to the mental health challenges facing young people, the U.S. Department of Education released an extensive resource outlining serious challenges facing school mental health support systems and corresponding recommendations (U.S. Department of Education, 2021), including:
(i)Prioritizing wellness for each and every child, student, educator, and provider
(ii) enhancing mental health literacy and reducing stigma and other barriers to access
(iii) implementing a continuum of evidence-based prevention practices
(iv) establishing an integrated framework of educational, social, emotional, and behavioral health support for all.
Sharpen meets all four of the mental and emotional wellness priorities outlined by the Department of Education and can be deployed through schools or via community service organizations. Through the unique peer resiliency model, we are able to engage adolescents deeply into conversations about mental health (Hussa-Farrell, 2023; Biber & Rothman, 2023)
The more than 75 peer-to-peer videos within the SMHL program include psychoeducational modules on topics such as:
Based on nearly 20 years of leading mental health literacy training in schools, the content assembled into SMHL has been created utilizing the practices outlined by recent research (Semchuck et al, 2023) requiring assessment, deep community listening and robust engagement from stakeholders (Gruber et al, 2023)
Sharpen MHL is available for individual or organization use. To receive a program guide, please insert your email in the space provided for any of the below SMHL audience groups:
SMHL course is available for purchase by following the steps outlined below. For group, school or organizational use, please contact us.
Sharpen Mental Health Literacy (SMHL)
$90 (6-hour course)
This 6-hour evidence-based course provides an overview and framework for understanding mental health literacy, along with public health models that outline the importance of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. The course objectives and evidence base can be viewed here.
The 6-hour course enables participants to experience direct testimony about stigma and the many barriers that prevent individuals from discussing mental health topics.
All participants will receive a training certificate indicating the number of hours completed. For licensed clinicians who qualify, they will receive 6 hours of continuing education for this course, accredited through NBCC and the University of West Georgia.
Evidence Base
Over 25 research projects (Hussa-Farrell, 2024) utilizing Sharpen®️ modules with youth and young adults have led to the development of SMHL program containing peer focused psychoeducation and mental health awareness trainings, stigma reduction, mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) activities, trauma-informed best practices and suicide prevention.
These research studies have shown high adoption and utilization rates in college and medical student settings (Berreta et al, 2023).. For example, 1656 medical and undergraduate students from five universities in the Appalachian region in the U.S. participated in a study deploying Sharpen psychoeducational modules, including mental health literacy (MHL), social-emotional learning, mindfulness-based stress reduction, and suicide prevention content to promote protective factors for students. Via a retrospective, cross-sectional design, the results indicated high implementation and maintenance of the modules deployed through the Sharpen mental health and wellbeing service. Through Sharpen’s unique peer resiliency model, adolescents are able to engage into conversations about mental health. Promoting mental health literacy is a focus to enhance knowledge and beliefs about mental health to recognize, manage, and prevent onset of mental, emotional, and behavioral health problems (Jorm et al, 1997). A recent pilot study by Biber & Rothman evaluated SMHL with college females, revealing six qualitative themes regarding training effectiveness, including (1) Help-Seeking, (2) Stress Management, (3) Tailored Guidance to Resources, (4) Understanding Warning Signs, (5) Body Image Awareness, and (6) Engaging with Mentees. This study provided initial support for Sharpen modules when implemented with undergraduate females (Biber & Rothman, 2023). The Sharpen modules are also designed to reduce mental health stigma and promote first aid (Amado-Rodríguez et al, 2022). Each module contains fifteen elements that include documentary film stories of resilience and strength, basic health education regarding risk and protective factors for mental health, and many resources to get the conversation started to help a friend or loved one. In over 400 surveys and several community-based research projects, adolescents were able to engage into the Sharpen system, find the service relatable, enjoy the discreet connection to treatment (Biber et al, 2023), and they recommend the service to their peers (Biber, 2023; Fadel et al, 2024).
References
Amado-Rodríguez, I. D., Casañas, R., Mas-Expósito, L., Castellví, P., Roldan-Merino, J. F., Casas, I., ... & Fernández-San Martín, M. I. (2022). Effectiveness of mental health literacy programs in primary and secondary schools: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Children, 9(4), 480.
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
Biber, D. D., Davis, A., & Stewart, B. (2023). Heads Up! Using a Mobile Platform for Division II Student-Athlete Mental Health Screening. Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/21520704.2023.2282191
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
Hussa-Farrell, R. (2024). Between 2006-2017, Robyn Hussa Farrell served as Executive Director of the nonprofit agency Mental Fitness. During her tenure, Hussa produced over 25 live and online programs, including the award-winning NORMAL THE MUSICAL education program which toured to over 200 schools. After each presentation, Hussa incorporated program response forms and held live Q&A discussions with youth and clinical psychologists. Over 20,000 people participated in the NORMAL musical program. Additionally, Hussa developed a peer focused resiliency program (5 Minute Mindfulness) that ran for 5 years in middle and high schools and became the mindfulness curricula for Resilient Schools programs in South Carolina (with over 5,000 educators trained on the model). Finally, she created live events, interactive mental health fairs, teen mash up campaigns, videos, and documentary films featuring youth stories of resilience and strength. She deployed much of this content in the early days on a YouTube channel with over 1 million views over a four year period. The average age of the participants in all of these programs was 15 and ranged from 5 to 25.
Jorm, A. F., Korten, A. E., Jacomb, P. A., Christensen, H., Rodgers, B., & Pollitt, P. (1997). "Mental health literacy": a survey of the public's ability to recognise mental disorders and their beliefs about the effectiveness of treatment. Medical journal of Australia, 166(4), 182-186.