OhioMHAS Psychological First Aid Trainings

Purpose
OhioMHAS is seeking proposals from qualified contractors to conduct Psychological First Aid (PFA) trainings within Ohio’s communities and expand knowledge of this evidence-informed approach to behavioral health disaster recovery.  Background
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) (P.L. 117-159) provides supplemental funding for the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant (MHBG) to enable states, the District of Columbia, and territories to expand access to mental health care. Overseen by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the BSCA supplemental funding seeks to support state behavioral health systems in examining what is needed to address the mental health needs in the aftermath of traumatic events and natural disasters within our communities. To address the massive disruption and loss of life caused by these crises, SAMHSA is recommending that states utilize this funding to strengthen and enhance behavioral health disaster preparedness and crisis response efforts. This funding provides a unique opportunity to develop improved and sustainable public behavioral health systems that are more adept at meeting the needs of vulnerable people, including those with more complex presentations. This opportunity will provide funding to conduct Psychological First Aid (PFA) trainings within Ohio’s communities and expand knowledge of this evidence-informed approach to behavioral health disaster recovery.Developed by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) and the National Center for PTSD, Psychological First Aid (PFA) is an evidence-informed approach to helping children, youth, adults, and families in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, natural and human-made. Following a disaster or traumatic event, survivors, witnesses, and/or responders may struggle and face new challenges. “PFA is designed to reduce the initial stress caused by traumatic events and to foster short- and long-term adaptive functioning and coping. PFA does not assume that all survivors will develop severe mental health problems or long-term difficulties in recovery. Instead, it is based on an understanding that disaster survivors and others affected by such events will experience a broad range of early reactions (e.g., physical, psychological, behavioral, spiritual). Some of these reactions will cause enough distress to interfere with adaptive coping, and recovery may be helped by support from compassionate and caring disaster responders.” (NCTSN, n.d., para. 2)PFA’s core objectives are to provide early assistance within the days or weeks following an event. The eight PFA Core Actions include: Contact and Engagement – Respond to survivors in a non-intrusive and helpful manner Safety and Comfort – Enhance immediate and ongoing safety needs and provide physical and emotional comfort Stabilization (if needed) – Calm and orient emotionally overwhelmed and disoriented survivors Information Gathering on Current Needs and Concerns – Identify immediate needs, concerns, and assist in gathering additional information to tailor interventions Practical Assistance – Offer practical and reasonable help to survivors in addressing their immediate needs and concerns Connection with Social Supports – Help survivors establish brief and ongoing contacts with support persons including family members, friends, and community resources Information on Coping – Provide information on stress reactions, coping to reduce distress, and promote adaptive functioning Linkage with Collaborative Services – Link survivors with available services needed in the immediate aftermath and/or in the future
PFA can be used by first responders, incident command systems, primary and emergency health care providers, school crisis response teams, faith-based organizations, disaster relief organizations, Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT), Medical Reserve Corps (MRC), and Citizens Corps. PFA is designed to be delivered in diverse settings. These core objectives can be delivered in the field, shelters, medical triage areas, emergency departments and hospital settings, staging areas, respite centers, emergency operations centers, crisis hotlines, feeding locations, disaster assistance service centers, family reception and assistance centers, homes, businesses, and a variety of other community settings to meet the needs of the populations affected.This funding opportunity seeks to hire a contractor to provide PFA training opportunities to Ohio’s communities and disaster response teams in an effort to reduce stress symptoms and assist in health recovery following a traumatic event, natural disaster, public health emergency, or even a personal crisis.  Scope of Work and Deliverables
Contractor will provide four (4) in-person Psychological First Aid trainings in four (4) regions of Ohio and four (4) virtual trainings culminating in eight (8) PFA trainings for Ohio. Each in-person training will register up to 60 individuals allowing for concentrated interaction and group work. Each virtual training will register up to 125 individuals. The Contractor must educate participants on all of the eight PFA Core Actions within their trainings. The Contractor will provide and implement the virtual platform for these trainings.  The Contractor must work collaboratively with OhioMHAS staff to determine the logistics of each training including, but not limited to, dates, times, and registration of each training.The Contractor must be able to provide Psychological First Aid training outlined within the Background section of this RFA. The selected Contractor shall be a certified Psychological First Aid trainer. Additionally the Contractor must have prior experience: Conducting large group Psychological First Aid trainings both in-person and virtually; Must have completed Psychological First Aid training and be able to demonstrate their proven ability to conduct trainings on this model; Apply principles of Psychological First Aid to mediate the traumatic impact of disasters; Address the Psychological First Aid themes and objectives outlined within the Background section of this RFA.
Contractor must provide previous work and references to demonstrate their experience and ability to provide the Psychological First Aid trainings both in-person and virtually. Contractor will provide a description of their virtual platform they intend to use for the virtual Psychological First Aid trainings.The Contractor will engage with training participants, external, and internal stakeholders. The Contractor will attend meetings with OhioMHAS, as necessary, to successfully complete the scope of work.Travel to the various regions will be necessary to deliver in-person trainings.OhioMHAS will be responsible for identifying, selecting, and planning the locations for the in-person trainings. The Contractor will be responsible for set-up and tear-down of the training space at the identified locations.The Contractor will provide OhioMHAS with copies of all training materials.The Contractor will provide registration reports to the HAS lead. The report must include names, licensures, and other identifying information of participants registered for and that have completed the PFA trainings, both in-person and virtual. Minimum Qualifications of Contractor Contractor shall not be subject to an “unresolved” finding for recovery under Section 9.24 of Ohio Revised Code. To be eligible to participate in this application process, the proposal must describe the contractor’s qualifications to conduct the identified scope of work activities, expertise, knowledge, and experience. Experience must include examples of conducting similar or related work. The contractor will include in their proposal experience with the behavioral health field, in particular county ADAMHS boards, local health departments, emergency management systems, and first responders.The proposal should include examples of work similar to the scope of work requested within this RFP.