12 Arkansas Groups Receive Grants to Fund Mental Health Programs

(Blue & You Foundation)

The Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas has awarded a dozen Arkansas organizations grants to fund mental health programs in Arkansas communities.

A press release from the foundation said 23.8% of Arkansans have a mental or behavioral health illness, ranking the state 23^rd in the nation.

Aiming to remove the stigma surrounding mental health and connect Arkansans with care, the foundation is awarding grants to 12 nonprofit organizations around the state. The grants will fund programs providing services such as counseling to foster and adopted children and their families, educating primary care doctors and pediatricians on how to better spot signs of mental health and substance use challenges, as well as a mobile peer recovery support program.

“We cannot have complete health and wellbeing without good physical and mental health,” foundation president Rebecca Pittillo said in the release. “We must do everything we can to remove the stigma and make our wellbeing, our whole health, a priority.”

Organizations receiving grants include:

• Arkansas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics ($130,000) — The Arkansas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics Foundation will educate pediatricians on how to better recognize and care for patients with substance use disorders, thoughts of suicide and diagnoses such as eating disorders.
• Boys & Girls Club of Benton County ($100,000) — Project Mindful Matters will expand access to mental health services to members of the Benton County Boys & Girls Club after school and in the summer.
• The CALL ($45,700) — The CALL will expand its mental health program to provide therapeutic services and support to foster and adoptive families across Arkansas.
• Cooper-Anthony Mercy Child Advocacy Center ($75,000) — The Cooper-Anthony Mercy Child Advocacy Center in Hot Springs and Benton will provide access to no-cost mental health services in five counties for children ages 3-18 who have been victims of child abuse and neglect.
• El Dorado School District ($66,300) — The Behavioral Intervention Enhancement Program will use technology to address student behavioral challenges through personalized, evidence-based interventions and help foster a positive school environment.
• Life Skills for Youth ($200,000) — The Life Skills for Youth afterschool and summer academy will expand its Anger, Time and Money Management program to include Otter Creek Elementary, Mabelvale Middle School and Southwest High School in Little Rock.
• Lyon College ($117,450) — Caring Campuses will launch the Belonging and Connection initiative to address the national epidemic of loneliness and isolation. Caring Campuses, a collaboration between Lyon College and the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville, will increase community connection and social support through relationship building.
• Ouachita Regional Counseling and Mental Health Center, Inc. ($150,808) — The Ouachita Regional Counseling and Mental Health Center will place two mental health professionals in the emergency room at CHI St. Vincent to assist with patients in a behavioral health crisis.
• The REACH Institute Resource for Advancing Children’s Health ($43,512) — The REACH Institute will deliver the Adult Behavioral Health in Primary Care program to 30 Arkansas primary care providers, with a focus on clinicians serving high-need populations. The four-month program will equip primary care physicians with skills to diagnose, manage and treat mental health challenges.
• St. Bernards Development Foundation ($187,000) — The St. Bernards Development Foundation will maintain and expand its addiction treatment services, ensuring accessibility to individuals in a 23-county service area. The program provides face-to-face, regular and intensive treatment for substance abuse along with psychiatric and medication management services for patients in rural areas.
• University of Central Arkansas Foundation, Inc. ($40,000) — The University of Central Arkansas will work with students to build awareness of mental health challenges, promoting positive mental health outcomes and suicide prevention. UCA will also engage faculty and student-facing staff to complete Mental Health First Aid training so they may better support students in distress.
• Wolfe Street Foundation, Inc. ($198,663) — The Wolfe Street Foundation will deploy Peer Recovery Support Specialists alongside a mobile health clinic to bring recovery resources to rural communities in Arkansas, including medications for opioid use disorders.

Overall, the grants total more than $1.35 million.