Lucie County has been awarded the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Strategic Prevention Framework-Partnership for Success Grant (SPF-PFS) for $375,000 per year for 5 years through 2028 to launch the St. Lucie RISE Mental Health Collaborative under its umbrella. The purpose of this grant program is to help communities work collaboratively to reduce the onset and progression of substance misuse and its related problems by supporting the development and delivery of community substance misuse prevention and mental health promotion services. The SPF-PFS program is grounded in the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF), a data-driven community engagement model grounded in public health principles focused on providing evidence-based services to high-risk and underserved communities. Consistent with the Roundtable’s mission, this grant will enhance our mission to sustain a team of county and business leaders who mobilize resources to improve the education, health, safety, nutrition, and care of all children in St. Lucie County. Local Substance Abuse Prevention and Mental Health Promotion Strategies
Designed to strengthen our community-level prevention capacity to identify and respond to local substance abuse prevention and mental health promotion priorities for high-risk and underserved communities, the St. Lucie RISE Strategic Prevention Partnership is a county-wide initiative designed to implement a comprehensive mix of evidenced-based prevention approaches and services that align with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) expectations to implement high-quality programs, practices, and policies that are recovery-oriented, trauma-informed, and equity-based as a means of improving behavioral health in St. Our partner agencies and collaboratives, businesses, and community advocates will work collectively to address root causes that lead to increased risk for youth substance misuse and mental health challenges. This funding will specifically be utilized to establish a Mental Health Collaborative, made up of community stakeholders, to identify and respond to ongoing behavioral health needs for our community and to oversee the delivery of community-wide Teen Mental Health First-Aid training, support the development of Pediatric Integrated Care access through primary care providers, support the delivery of Functional Family Therapy to underserved communities, and to promote community-wide trauma-informed care approaches. In addition, funding will provide additional support to Drug Free St. Lucie currently funded by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Center for Disease Control, to expand its substance abuse prevention efforts through the implementation of youth-led Social Norms and Mental Health awareness campaigns. Under the umbrella of the Roundtable, the Mental Health Collaborative and Drug Free St. Lucie will be a force multiplier to improve behavioral health outcomes for youth and families in our community.
