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NIH grant 1S06GM164729-01: Optimizing Tribal Youth Outcomes: First Face for Law Enforcement & Legal Professionals
Institute: {'code': 'GM', 'abbreviation': 'NIGMS', 'name': 'National Institute of General Medical Sciences', 'admin_org_id': '12500024', 'admin_funding_url': ''}. PI: SARAH E NELSON. Award: $249538.
Start: 2026-09-11T00:00:00.
Interactions between people who come into contact with the criminal legal system and those tasked with law enforcement are often exacerbated by mental health challenges or substance use, and can lead to traumatic outcomes for all involved. This is even more true in Tribal settings where rates of mental health and substance use disorders are elevated, Tribal Police and Tribal Courts are often under-resourced, and Tribal youth are particularly vulnerable. However, research suggests that additional training and support around mental health interactions for law enforcement and other legal organizations can improve outcomes both at the individual and system level. To address this need, we plan to adapt our existing culturally-grounded mental health training program, xaʔtu̓s (First Face) for Mental Health, for use in Tribal law enforcement and legal settings. We developed First Face as a training curriculum for Tribal communities. The proposed adaptation is needed due to the unique situations and demands related to mental health that Tribal law enforcement and legal professionals encounter. These potential trainees need additional skills and knowledge, such as de-escalation and adolescent development, to make their interactions with individuals experiencing mental health or substance use crises, particularly Tribal youth, as successful as possible for all involved. To accomplish this adaptation, we will use an iterative process of development, followed by implementation and evaluation of the curriculum with Tribal law enforcement and legal organizations. Specifically, we will undertake a systematic literature review and conduct focus groups with both Tribal law enforcement and legal professionals from multiple federally-recognized Tribes, and Tribal youth with histories of mental health and substance use problems, most of whom have had contact with law enforcement, to inform the training adaptation. We will work with our Tribal working group to apply the learnings from the focus groups and literature review to the adaptation of the training. We will then implement the new First Face for Tribal Law Enforcement & Legal Professionals training with 140 Tribal law enforcement & legal professionals from multiple federally-recognized Tribes. Trainees will complete surveys before and after the training and at 3-month and 6-month follow-up periods to evaluate the effect of the training on mental health knowledge, attitudes, perceived competence and confidence to provide help, actual mental health crisis support behaviors, perceptions of relations with Tribal youth, and trainees’ own risk behaviors and mental health.document fetched 2026-09-20 02:42