The Brookland-Lakeview Empowerment Center brought findings from its local mental health training initiative to a national audience, presenting three research studies at the American Public Health Association’s 2026 Annual Meeting & Expo in San Antonio, Texas.
Joan M Harris and Mark Sellers
Joan M. Harris, program coordinator for the center’s Mental Health Awareness Training initiative, and Mark Sellers, the initiative’s Mental Health First Aid trainer, represented BLEC at the conference. Held Nov. 1–4 at the Henry B. González Convention Center, the meeting focused on the theme “Together We Thrive: Health Across the Lifespan.” Dr. Cindye Richburg Cotton served as principal investigator, and authorship of the three research publications was shared among the entire team.
The three presentations included an oral presentation, “Building Mental Health Literacy and Bridging to Care: The Impact of Mental Health First Aid Training,” and two poster presentations examining training outcomes among women and men.
Mental Health First Aid teaches people how to recognize signs of mental health or substance use challenges, offer initial support and connect someone with professional care or other resources. BLEC offers adult, youth and teen training and reports having trained more than 2,000 people since 2022.
The oral presentation examined adult training conducted from Dec. 1, 2022, through Dec. 31, 2025. The evaluation included 1,666 pretraining assessments and 1,143 posttraining assessments across eight areas of mental health knowledge. Results showed gains in understanding how to respond to panic attacks, address suicide concerns and support people experiencing mental health challenges.
The presentation also reported that 2,623 individuals were referred to professional treatment or additional support during the study period. Referrals included mental health counseling, substance use treatment, medical assistance and services addressing needs such as food, clothing and shelter.
The poster focusing on women reported an overall knowledge improvement of 15.6 percent. The largest gains involved appropriate responses to panic attacks and recognizing the importance of asking about suicide. More than 94 percent of respondents reported being satisfied or very satisfied with the training.
The poster focusing on men reported an overall knowledge improvement of 9.71 percent. The strongest gains involved responses to panic attacks and delusions. Approximately 90 percent of respondents reported being satisfied or very satisfied. The findings also pointed to a need for strategies that strengthen engagement and learning among men.
Together, the studies suggest that community-based training can improve mental health knowledge and help prepare residents to support others. The evaluations measured knowledge and reported referral activity; they did not establish long-term mental health outcomes.
For BLEC, sharing the findings placed its Midlands training initiative in a national discussion about early intervention and access to care. The work reflects the center’s mission to promote health, education and economic empowerment while improving the lives of residents in Lexington and Richland counties and neighboring communities.
For more information or to coordinate a free MHFA training at your workplace, please reach out to Joan Harris at jharris@brookland.cc.