Key Project Activities/Progress Made/Interesting Findings:

• Our group engaged in a direct participant observation by attending a Mental Health First Aid Training offered by the Department of Health and Mental Hygeine. ThriveNYC aims to have 250,000 individuals trained as one of it’s initiatives to “Change the Culture” around mental health. The class was an 8-hour long training period, in which we discussed what mental health first aid is, the importance of this knowledge, and different kinds of disorders including depression and mood disorders, anxiety disorders, trauma, psycosis, and substance use disorders. We were given action plan known as A.L.G.E.E. (Assess risk of suice or harm, Listen nonjudgementally, Give reassurance and information, Encourage appropriate professional help, Encourage self-help and other support strategies), and applied it to various scenarios. Through role plays, scenarios, and other activities, we learned how to respond to panic attacks, suicidal thoughts or behaviors, nonsuicidal self-injury, acute psychosis, overdose or withdrawal from alcohol or drug use, and reaction to traumatic events.
• I attended this class on Friday, the 22nd, while the rest of the group attended the following Monday the 25th. For that reason, our experience may have been slightly different as we had different individuals in the training as well as different trainers. Most of my classmates were adults representing school health programs and other support services, with a substantial amount of experience in the mental health field.
• The training provided us with a Mental Health First Aid manual which we all believe is useful and should be distributed on a larger scale. The manual not only covers material that was covered in class, but goes into further detail as well as covers other topics such as eating disorders, and provides further references.
• The training was very introductory, and, considering the dynamic of the group, was information most of us already knew. I do not believe this is a bad thing however, as the initiative’s aim is to provide this education to everyone in all professions, and as a result I did learn things I did not learn in the earlier stages of my mental health education. However, the training can be deduced from a duration of 8 hours to a shorter time frame. While the training started strong, interactive, with enthusiastic students, it ended on a weaker note. A few individuals clearly expressed discontent at the length and speed of information being given. As a group, we will discuss this at our next meeting and possibly include our recommendations in our white paper.
• I am still in touch with my community contact from London, and am waiting on a response for further information on how the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) enforces its policies as well as how extensive it is as a system.

Challenges Encountered:

• Throughout the semester, we have had trouble in getting in touch with our community contacts. However, we have worked around this and accumulated adequate research to address and support our claim.
• From the training, we were hoping to obtain more information on ThriveNYC from a primary source. However, as the training lasted for 8 hours with only a half hour lunch break, we were unable to formulate questions and get access to this information. I think it’s safe to say by the end of the training, we were all quite exhausted.

Tasks Remaining:

• As stated earlier, I attended the training on an earlier date, and we have not yet thoroughly discussed our experiences on the class. We will be meeting tomorrow, Friday, the 29th, to discuss this as well as work on our white paper. The structure we have decided on is as follows: 1) a historical overview of mental healthcare in New York City leading up to the present day, the limits of the current healthcare system, related issues of inaccessibility and financial and cultural barriers to treatment, and so on (with statistics and research to supplement our argument); 2) an introduction to ThriveNYC and how it specifically addresses these issues and is a viable plan, albeit one in need of some modifications; 3) a detailed rundown of our suggested policy recommendations related to the legislation, in order and with evidence to back up our claims.

Group’s Process and Dynamics:

• Our group continues working well together. We communicate constantly through our Facebook Messenger group, and work on our documents via Google Docs. We continue to suggest ideas contributing to our white paper based on new research, community knowledge, and experiences. The division of labor is both clear and fair. We hope to get a large portion of the white paper completed tomorrow and complete the rest over Google Docs throughout the weekend.