Although libraries historically have focused on providing access to information, many libraries have expanded their scope to offer additional resources to their communities, such as computer and internet access, food bank programming, and language and literacy classes. Libraries tend to be trusted and welcoming spaces in which individuals from diverse backgrounds access valuable programs and resources at no cost. Therefore, embedding mental health support in library programming can feel like a natural fit, especially for communities with growing mental health needs and a lack of traditional mental health resources. In this toolkit, the authors draw from Libraries for Health (L4H), a mental health pilot program that aims to build community capacity for mental health and well-being by embedding mental health support in public libraries. L4H emerged from a partnership among St. David’s Foundation, RAND, Via Hope, and ten public libraries in central Texas in response to critical mental health needs and a shortage of mental health care providers. In collaboration with members of this partnership, RAND researchers developed this toolkit to share lessons learned in the L4H pilot. This toolkit is designed to help librarians identify and implement mental health supports within libraries to support their patrons’ mental well-being. It starts with a description of the rationale for incorporating mental health supports in libraries and a brief summary of how libraries approached this effort in the L4H pilot. The toolkit focuses on guiding librarians through the steps of successfully adding new mental health supports within their library environments.

Suicide prevention trainings are implemented to equip the public's ability to intervene with those who are at-risk, but their implementation is not often monitored for quality. In this study, we propose a quality improvement model to improve trainer skill, demonstrate evidence of knowledge uptake, and document the quality of training workshop implementation. We collected participant data (N=2006) from over 127 Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) training workshops that evaluated workshop satisfaction, confidence to intervene, and likelihood to intervene and refer immediately post-training. We also collected trainer data by measuring fidelity and adherence to the ASIST protocol at five live ASIST workshops. Training participants reported improved confidence and likelihood to intervene and refer after the workshop. Participants also reported high satisfaction. In three of the five workshops, newly trained trainers covered 75% or more of the fidelity items demonstrating thorough review of the training. Trainers generally adhered to one of four competencies specific to ASIST and five of the 11 general competencies relating to group management. Trainers may need to improve their efforts to tailor content to specific audiences, promote cultural competence, and manage time.

This study evaluates the effectiveness of motivational enhancement therapy/cognitive behavioral therapy–5 (MET/CBT-5) when delivered in community practice settings relative to standard community-based adolescent treatment. A quasi-experimental strategy was used to adjust for pretreatment differences between the MET/CBT-5 sample (n = 2,293) and those who received standard care (n = 458). Results suggest that youth who received MET/CBT-5 fared better than comparable youth in the control group on five of six 12-month outcomes. A low follow-up rate (54%) in the MET/CBT-5 sample raised concerns about nonresponse bias in the treatment effect estimates. Sensitivity analyses suggest that although modest differences in outcomes between the MET/CBT-5 nonrespondents and respondents would yield no significant differences between the two groups on two of the six outcomes, very large differences in outcomes between responders and nonresponders would be required for youth receiving MET/CBT-5 to have fared better had they received standard outpatient care.