In October of 2017, California Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill (SB) 85 into law in order to authorize the creation of a $4.5 million California Community College Mental Health Services Grant Program that emphasized the pivotal role that Screening for Mental Health’s (SMH) MindKare kiosks can play in the drive to strengthen university mental health services.
Aimed at improving access to mental health services and early identification programs for students attending the state’s public colleges, the grant’s request for applications (RFA) details the increased demand for and limited capacity to meet the mental health needs of public college students. With this in mind, it’s clear that the RFA’s focus on MindKare kiosks speaks to the public health benefits that mental health kiosks can bring to the table. Powered by the cutting-edge self-service technology from Advanced Kiosks, MindKare kiosks create an intimate user experience that works to shatter the pervasive stigma surrounding the search for mental health treatment.
In addition to providing users a discrete access point for professionally certified mental health screening, the MindKare kiosks also include information for how to get in touch with local or campus-based mental health professionals.
Screening for Mental Health, Inc. (SMH), the pioneer of large-scale mental health screening for the public, provides innovative mental health and substance abuse resources, linking those in need with quality treatment options. Offering programs online, in-person and self service to educate, raise awareness, and screen individuals for common mental and behavioral health disorders, and suicide. We envision a world where mental health is viewed and treated with the same gravity as physical health.
Meeting the objectives with MindKare kiosks
While the RFA includes several specific objectives that California public colleges must meet to qualify forgrant funding, but the explicit requirement that campuses provide “screening services to students” and “linkages to services from the appropriate on or off campus mental health provider” make clear why MindKare Kiosks received a special shout-out.
Speaking on the role that MindKare kiosks can play in California’s initiative, Screening for Mental Health’s CEO Norm Gorin, made the case that his company’s MindKare Kiosks are the perfect solution to provide early identification of mental health concerns and guidance to potential resources to address those concerns.
“At Screening for Mental Health,” Mr. Gorin continued, “we envision a world where mental health is viewed and treated with the same gravity as physical health. In our book, that starts and end with normalizing access to quality mental health information that can help people better understand what they’re going through.” Going on to express his hope that the kiosks help to “make screening your own mental health as ordinary as using blood pressure machines at your neighborhood grocery store.”
A superior service made from superior components
As the head of the company that manufactures the MindKare kiosks, Advanced Kiosks president Howard
Horn expressed pride in the positive impact his collaboration with SMH is poised to have on access to mental health information for California public college students.
“While self service kiosks are what we build, what we strive to make is a difference in the way that people interact with information,” remarked Horn. “At a time when 40% of college students in California don’t seek mental health services when they need them most, it’s my hope that the user-friendly nature of our kiosks and the mental health support systems developed by SMH combine to revolutionize the way people think about mental health treatment.”
Specializing in self service software as well as hardware, Horn went on to note the specific features that he believes makes his kiosk solutions ideal for university mental health services.
“When you talk about deploying fleets of MindKare kiosks on campuses with large student populations, remote access capability like our cloud kiosk management tools becomes a crucial component in staying on top of the functionality and performance of your kiosks. That, paired with our industry-leading 3 Year Warranty, spells a tremendous value in pursuit of the goals of this mental health services grant.”
The deadline for grant applications is Thursday, February 1, 2018, 5:00 p.m. PST.
