MHAA for Employment Support Professionals

The Mental Health Awareness and Advocacy (MHAA) curriculum helps participants learn three processes: 1) identify warning signs of mental health concerns, 2) locate high-quality mental health resources, and 3) respond to those who are experiencing mental health concerns.

By the end of this training, you should be able to:

1. State how common mental health concerns are in the United States.
2. Distinguish strengths-based approaches from deficits-based approaches.
3. Distinguish intellectual and developmental disabilities from mental health concerns.
4. Better recognize signs of distress in individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and better label mental health concerns (e.g., depression, anxiety, psychosis, and suicidality) that may be contributing to distress.
5. Distinguish evidence-based resources from non-evidence-based resources.
6. Locate mental health services and providers in your area.
7. Feel more confident discussing mental health with others and setting boundaries (i.e., what you’re comfortable talking about and helping with and what you’re not comfortable with).
8. Refer individuals experiencing mental health concerns to appropriate resources.