Creating Trauma and Disaster Informed Schools and Systems of Care for Underserved Youth through Mental Health Awareness Training in Puerto Rico

Climate change is disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable communities around the world and children are particularly at risk of experiencing adverse mental health impacts. Training the mental health and allied workforce in evidence-based models of care for affected youth is imperative. Mental health awareness training (MHAT) offers: 1) psychoeducation about various mental health topics, 2) tips and resources to help youth cope, and 3) referral information to connect youth with services. MHATs that are trauma and disaster-informed have been lacking, especially in Puerto Rico, a US territory severely impacted by extreme weather events. Our team at the [Removed for Masked Review] used a Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach and partnered with two local universities in Puerto Rico [Removed for Masked Review] after the devastation of Hurricane Maria in 2017. Our collaborative needs assessment led to the following goals: 1) providing evidence-based, disaster and trauma-informed mental health awareness training; 2) identifying and connecting youth to mental health services; 3) implementing the first-ever, school-based telepsychiatry consultation program on the island; and 4) creating social media mental health awareness marketing campaigns to disseminate culturally and linguistically tailored resources. Over four years our team offered evidence-based, culturally and linguistically tailored MHATs including: Psychological First Aid (PFA), Trauma Informed Care (TIC), Suicide & Crisis Prevention and Response, Skills for Psychological Recovery (SPR), and Secondary Traumatic Stress and Self Careto 9,236 individuals utilizing in person and virtual training modalities. A total of 652 Puerto Rican youth were identified and referred to mental health services. Our trauma and disaster-informed mental health awareness training program was featured by the US Surgeon General as a potential model to help meet the mental health needs of disaster affected youth due to climate change.