Three-year grant funds to provide mental health training seminars to UHCL community
The University of Houston–Clear Lake (UHCL) was awarded a three-year $375,000 grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) to provide training for faculty and staff to learn the signs of substance abuse or mental health issues such as depression, eating disorders and even suicidal thoughts. Part of the grant money will be used to develop a training seminar to help faculty and staff, and students if they want to participate, learn to recognize the signs of someone in distress and how to approach someone who has them.
SAMHSA is a department within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that helps the public understand the behavior of anyone with mental health issues. Established in 1992 by the U.S. Congress, SAMHSA was created to make mental disorders and substance abuse services, information and research more accessible to the public. Their mission is to reduce the impact of substance abuse and mental illness in America.
The grant request was a collaboration between the staff of the Office of Counseling Services, faculty members Joan Pedro and Cheryl Sawyer from the College of Education, Tonya Jeffery from the Center for Educational Programs, and Lisa White from the Office of Sponsored Programs, that worked together to write and submit the proposal. Sawyer, professor of counseling in the College of Education, was one of the faculty advisers who helped write the proposal.
Cindy Cook executive director of counseling, health and career services, noted that the funding for this training would have cost the university a lot of money. The three-year grant helps pay for everything from training, to the classes and materials that are given out.
“We are really excited about this,” Cook said. “This is something in the counseling center we have thought about and talked about for a really long time.”
Cook explained that people on campus should contact the counseling center about students whom they suspect are depressed or having suicidal thoughts.
“People on campus do not know what to do with people that are experiencing mental health issues,” Cook said.
The second part of the grant will be used for training the community surrounding UHCL, including local school districts and police departments. UHCL Chief of Police Allen Hill has his police officers on campus trained.
“Any training is always welcomed by the police department, it not only benefits our police officers, [but] it also benefits our students, faculty, staff and community,” Hill said. “Having this type of training will help officers identify people who may be in mental distress or may have a mental health disability. The UHCL PD is also working towards having every officer become a certified Mental Health Peace Officer through the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.”
Faculty, staff and students are all encouraged to participate in the training seminars. As of now, the College of Education is offering five classes between now and the end of December. Once more instructors get involved and trained properly, more classes will be offered. There will be classes that are specific to students only. Everyone can sign up online through the College of Education.
