Florida Senate - 2014              PROPOSED COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
       Bill No. CS for SB 574
       
       
       
       
       
                               Ì754632%Î754632                          
       
       576-02722-14                                                    
       Proposed Committee Substitute by the Committee on Appropriations
       (Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services)
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the establishment of a mental
    3         health first aid training program; requiring the
    4         Department of Children and Families to establish a
    5         mental health first aid training program; providing
    6         for a mental health first aid course to be offered by
    7         behavioral health managing entities or other community
    8         providers; providing program requirements; requiring
    9         instructors to be certified; requiring the department
   10         to submit a report to the Governor and the
   11         Legislature; providing for expiration of the program;
   12         providing an appropriation; providing an effective
   13         date.
   14          
   15  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   16  
   17         Section 1. Mental health first aid training program.—
   18         (1) The Department of Children and Families shall establish
   19  a mental health first aid training program to help the public
   20  identify and understand the signs of mental illness and
   21  substance use disorders and to provide the public with skills to
   22  help a person who is developing or experiencing a mental health
   23  or substance use problem.
   24         (2) The training program shall provide an interactive
   25  mental health first aid training course through contracts with
   26  behavioral health managing entities or other appropriate
   27  community providers. The contracting entity shall work
   28  cooperatively with local schools to provide training to the
   29  staff in schools as a first priority, when appropriate.
   30         (3) The training program must include, but is not limited
   31  to:
   32         (a) An overview of mental illness and substance use
   33  disorders and the need to reduce the stigma of mental illness.
   34         (b) Information on the potential risk factors and warning
   35  signs of mental illness or substance use disorders, including
   36  depression, anxiety, psychosis, eating disorders, and self
   37  injury, and common treatments for those conditions.
   38         (c) An action plan that encompasses the skills, resources,
   39  and knowledge required to assess the situation, select and
   40  implement appropriate interventions, and help an individual by
   41  providing appropriate professional, peer, social, or self-help
   42  care.
   43         (4) The Department of Children and Families shall ensure
   44  that instructors in the training program have been certified by
   45  a national authority on mental health first aid programs.
   46         (5) The Department of Children and Families shall submit a
   47  report on the effectiveness of the mental health first aid
   48  training program provided pursuant to this section, with
   49  recommendations regarding continued implementation of the
   50  program. The report shall be submitted to the Governor, the
   51  President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of
   52  Representatives by December 31, 2016.
   53         (6) This section expires June 30, 2017.
   54         Section 2. For the 2014-2015 fiscal year, the nonrecurring
   55  sum of $300,000 from the Federal Grants Trust Fund is
   56  appropriated to the Department of Children and Families to
   57  implement the provisions of this act.
   58         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2014.