Mental Health First Aid (MHFA)
Mental Health First Aid teaches individuals how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illness and substance use disorders. This training gives participants the skills needed to reach out and provide initial support to someone who may be developing a mental health or substance use problem and help connect them to the appropriate care.
The OneOp Military Caregiving concentration is responsible for providing professional development to service providers working with caregivers of wounded service members or military families caring for special needs dependents.
The Extension Military Program focuses on providing educational programs to assist military Families as they face the many uncertainties of life. Current program emphasis is within the areas of substance abuse and military caregiving.
In 1985 Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service executed a memorandum of agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Department of Defense (DoD). The partnership led to Extension providing continuous support for Fort Bliss (El Paso, TX) from 1987 to 2015 and Fort Hood (Killeen, TX) from 1996 to 2015. The newest addition to Extension Military Program has been the induction of family support programs at Joint Base San Antonio (San Antonio, TX) in 2006.
In addition to partnering on the installations to provide educational programs, AgriLife Extension partnered with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) – National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) on a national military caregiving initiative within OneOp. OneOp provides professional development opportunities for Department of Defense service providers.