NNews April 2024

29 April 2024 year Cape Assist will educate every sophomore class in the county. We want tomake it routine for school systems and students. We want YouthMental Health First Aid to be recognized as equally important as driver’s education for every sophomore with refresher classes in 11th and 12th grades. All schools are on boardwith this proactive, preventive approach, and it’s incredibly well received by staff and students. NJAMHAANews: Please comment on the value of your partnerships through the community initiatives and share advice for creating coalitions. Katie Faldetta: The longest standing coalition in CapeMay County is the Healthy Community Coalition, whichwas established in 1995. For the first drug-free initiative, we received a grant from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, then from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the coalition is still going strongwith more than 300members. Keystone activities keep them connected throughout the year and active on issues, such asmarijuana legalization. This coalition played a role in Handle with Care becoming a statewide initiative. For 24 years, Cape Assist has been hosting an annual Peer Leadership Conference for middle and high school students. We teach students how to run peer leadership groups and focus on self-care. Half of the workshops are presented by high school students with topics that include icebreakers, cooperative games, yoga, journaling, and other attainable self-care tools. We teach the benefits of flushing the brain of negative chemicals and the connection between our feelings and physical being, andwe facilitate exercises to get past trauma and get rid of negative emotions. To create a coalition, everyone needs to have an open mind on where the conversations go and back up what they’re hearing with data, so outliers or single instances don’t dominate the conversations. We need to let conversations and data drive the outcomes. (continued on page 30) NJAMHAANews: What is your background andwhen did you join Cape Assist? Katie Faldetta: I was a Financemajor in college, but always wanted towork in behavioral health care for children. After graduating, I worked at New Jersey Prevention Network where I learned the science of prevention. Later, I got married andmoved to South Jersey and joined Cape Assist about 21 years ago. The staff are dedicated and communityminded. Many of them have been working there 18 years or longer. They address adverse childhood experiences and social determinants of health. Initially, I had a financial role, managing grants and providing oversight of fiscal responsibilities and staff. My predecessor believed that finance should not be anyone’s sole job, so I got involved with programs. I even did a puppet show in an after-school program for K-3 students, many of whomhad English as a second language. I became the CEO in 2016. NJAMHAANews: What is your vision for Cape Assist’s future? Katie Faldetta: We will continue to evaluate data, see where the gaps are and fill them. The largest gap now is psychiatry for juveniles, but we can’t fill this gap now. We work with partners because of the psychiatrist shortage. Cape May County is small, so we all learned how to work cohesively. For example, we’ll call the county’s Care Management Organization to learn where we can connect kids and their families. We will continue to expand our partnerships. Data from local children, teen and young adult surveys enables us to determine how to partner to identify and meet these needs. What comes next for us is whatever the needs dictate. Our goal is to see how to support people without telling them what they need. We treat people as individuals, not participants of what we have to offer them.