May is Mental Health Awareness Month, but Board Certified PAs and PA students promote mental health year-round. The nccPA Health Foundation supports your grassroots mental health outreach with its $2,500 grant.

The gaps in access to care and the impact of mental illness are immense. Did you know:

• 1 in 5 adults experience mental illness each year.
• 21.5M adults had a co-occurring substance use disorder (SUD) and mental illness in 2022.
• Suicide rates increased 36% between 2000-2021 in the US.
• >122M people live in areas where it may be difficult to access care.

The Health Foundation believes, “every PA is a psych PA;” and it supports PAs and PAs students in caring for mental health, mental illness and SUD with a $2,500 seed grant. Grantees can use funds to raise awareness, reduce stigma, promote prevention and wellness, provide screenings and offer education.

Here are a few ideas to get you thinking about how to impact mental health in your community:

• Educate kids about the importance of their mental health, how it connects to overall health and how to talk about their feelings.
• Raise awareness of the dangers of eating disorders among high school students.
• Educate about substance use, including alcohol use, the opioid crisis, or other addictions and where to find help.
• Find creative strategies to support women who may experience perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.
• Promote self-care strategies to help community members avoid burnout (in health care or other industries) and to participate actively in their own health.
• Teach signs and symptoms of suicide and how community members can connect with resources, including 988, when they or someone they care about are in crisis.

There is no deadline to apply for this grant, so commit this month to a project that you’ll do this year. Review the grant guidelines and then put together your three-page proposal, budget and supporting materials. Email questions to [email protected].

Looking for more? Find additional mental health resources in our online resource center.

Follow the Health Foundation on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn) to stay up-to-date on future opportunities to get involved in their efforts to equip and empower Board Certified PAs and PA student to improve health for all.