Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA): A Change Initiative in an Underresourced School.

School-aged children with unidentified mental illnesses experience poor health outcomes; managing this issue requires a collaborative community approach. The objective was to implement an evidence-based mental health education and sustainment program within an underresourced school setting for staff and parents/guardians supervising children to optimize adult mental health literacy (MHL). The intervention included Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) training; measurements of pre- and post-MHL were completed with the Mental Health Literacy Scale (MHLS). Sustainment was achieved by developing a school-centered mental health toolkit and integrating a school champion. There was a significant MHL score change from pretest to posttest. The toolkit bolstered sustainability by increasing the utilization of community resources. This mental health awareness initiative proved effective and can be expanded across similar underresourced schools to fill voids.