FY2026 Annual Report

Annual Report FY2026 35 NJMHI Perseveres in Engaging All Communities as Workforce Members and Service Recipients N JMHI’s award-winning and nationally and internationally recognized Changing Minds, Advancing Mental Health for Hispanics Project aimed to enhance resources for Hispanic communities and the providers who serve them. As a result, NJMHI expanded its focus to ensure availability of, access to and delivery of culturally competent services to a variety of minority populations. In subsequent years, NJMHI undertook numerous training initiatives, ranging from conferences in New Jersey and across the nation to build clinicians’ cultural competence in serving diverse ethnic populations, the LGBTQIA+ community, and active military personnel, veterans and their families; to instruction on recognizing the symptoms of mental illnesses and substance use disorder (SUD) and appropriately referring individuals for treatment to individuals in Sri Lanka. 25+ Years of Cultural Competence Initiatives N JAMHAA established the New Jersey Mental Health Institute (NJMHI) in 2000 with the mission to promote quality mental health and substance use services through training, technical assistance, research, and policy development. NJMHI’s first initiative was collaborating with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (now Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care) for nearly five years to provide training for the more than 11,000 providers who were part of the Children’s System of Care at the time. NJMHI provided logistical support, engaged speakers and performed back-office functions. The Tsunami Mental Health Relief Project was launched by Debra Wentz, PhD, President and CEO of NJAMHAA and Executive Director of NJMHI, shortly after the tsunami claimed the lives of nearly 230,000 children and adults in Southeast Asia in December 2004. Dr. Wentz was in Sri Lanka at the time for a friend’s wedding and was fortunate to not get swept away by the waves. As she was familiar with the survivors’ immediate physical and mental healthcare needs, she reached out to members of NJAMHAA’s Pharmaceutical Advisory Council (now the Life Sciences and Innovation Council) to send medications and supplies to Sri Lanka. Also knowing the long-term mental health impact of the tsunami, Dr. Wentz kept her connections in Sri Lanka when she returned home in early January 2005 and worked on the next initiative. She worked with the Neurosurgery Development Foundation, a non-governmental Sri Lankan charitable organization, as well as a NJMHI team consisting of a trainer with expertise in trauma treatment and a cultural ambassador. They went to Sri Lanka and provided training in three languages (English, Sinhala and Tamil) to more than 100 counselors and other healthcare providers, educators, community leaders and volunteers about the symptoms of mental illnesses and SUD and how to determine when to refer individuals for treatment.