Holistic Emotional First Aid Project Evaluation

 HEFA focuses on building resilience skills and creating systems of recovery and support. 32 community members across Big Sky and Bozeman have been trained through a "train-the-trainer” model, leading to over 22 trainings conducted at over 8 local businesses and organizations and over 280 community participants.

In partnership with the local Montana State University, we have designed an evaluation plan that seeks to integrate evaluation seamlessly into the Be Well Big Sky initiative. The HEFA Evaluation Plan will ensure that Be Well Big Sky's community-led responses are continuously informed by resident needs. We hope to understand the perceived and real impact of HEFA trainings on HEFA trainers, participants, and the broader community. Community navigators will be trained in and empowered to utilize Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) skills to organically gather relevant impact data while simultaneously fostering a sense of connection to the community the Navigators seek to serve. The key learnings from this evaluation will be packaged to inform program adaptation and replication in other rural areas and mountain resort communities.