MHFA Forum 5 - Partnering for Change: Enhancing Large-scale MHFA Programs Through Collaborative Solutions

Sunday, May 4, 2025

1:45 PM – 2:45 PM ET

Location: 204A

Bringing together leaders from state-level and large-scale Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) initiatives, this session fosters the sharing of best practices, strategies, and solutions for common challenges such as funding, instructor generation and retention, policy promotion, scaling, and outreach. Using a dynamic format of Lightning Talks followed by Roundtable Discussions, facilitators will present specific successes and challenges from their MHFA initiatives, offering insights into innovative approaches. Attendees will then engage in roundtable discussions to dive deeper into these ideas, sharing lessons learned and collaborating on actionable solutions to enhance the impact and sustainability of large-scale MHFA efforts.

Learning Objectives:

Identify key strategies for funding, outreach, instructor development and retention, and policy promotion in large-scale MHFA initiatives.
Collaborate on solutions to common challenges faced by state-level and large-scale MHFA programs.
Attendees will build a network of peers from other large-scale programs, encouraging ongoing collaboration, resource sharing, and mutual support to enhance and sustain their programs beyond the session.

Forum Presenter - MHFA Summit(s)

Rachel Taube, MSW

Director for Mental Health First Aid Missouri
Missouri Institute of Mental Health
St. Louis, Missouri
Leah Bentfield

MHFA Maryland Program Manager
Mental Health Association of Maryland
Lutherville-Timonium, Maryland

Moderator - MHFA Summit(s)

LB

Lisa Basci, LPC

Director Peer Support and Mental Health First Aid
Community Services Group
Sunbury, Pennsylvania