A large proportion of SMs experience behavioral health (BH) problems in garrison and do not receive help from traditional sources of BH care. Non-BH providers, such as leaders and peers, are frequently accessed sources of BH help yet receive no or minimal training in the provision of BH interventions, creating a knowledge gap. Given previous promising findings teaching non-BH provider Soldiers BH skills to assess and provide interventions for BH problems in far forward environments, these results could be leveraged to develop a new training to teach related content and skills to unit leaders and helpers for use in garrison addressing a critical knowledge gap and providing vital BH resources for Soldiers.

Through this project we will develop and evaluate a training to unit leaders and helpers that focuses on the prevention, identification, and management of BH concerns including interventions that target mechanisms, risks and pathways underlying the development of chronic BH conditions. Specifically, we will identify the source material and processes to be offered to unit leaders and helpers to facilitate their ability to prevent, identify, and manage BH concerns. We will then develop evidenced-based training materials and intervention tools to train unit leaders and helpers in the material identified. Finally, we will evaluate the developed training and intervention tools to examine their effectiveness at increasing BH-related knowledge, confidence, and behaviors. By training BH skills to unit leaders and helpers, an early monitoring system for BH problems in Soldiers can be created allowing for unit helpers to provide just-in-time aid using simple, evidence-based interventions or triaging to a higher level of BH care. This has the potential to increase resilience of Soldiers by preventing the development of more severe issues that could reduce readiness and degrade mission success. Finally, teaching these skills to unit helpers can prevent a Soldier’s need for more formal BH care services, thereby reducing the strain on an under-staffed and overburdened military BH care system.