This toolkit includes practical materials, documents, and resources to help deepen your understanding and strengthen support systems for individuals with co-occurring intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and mental health concerns.

Whether you are a direct support professional, family caregiver, clinician, or community partner, these tools are built to help expand upon key learnings. They adapt mental health awareness strategies and foster collaboration across different professions.

The following resources in this toolkit provide accessible language, trauma-informed strategies, and clear referral pathways to empower communities to recognize distress early and deliver compassionate, coordinated care to individuals with IDD experiencing mental health crises.

• ALGEE Action Plan
• The Arc’s Mental Health Project Recommendations: Building Community Capacity to Support People With IDD and Mental Health Conditions
  • Executive Summary
  • Executive Summary in Plain Language
• Mental Health Awareness for People With IDD (PowerPoint)
• Mental Health Crisis Card
• Mental Health First Aid: Incorporating IDD
• Mental Health National Resource List
• Suicide Prevention and People With IDD: What You Need to Know
• Supporting Individuals With Co-Occurring Mental Health and IDD: Mental Health First Aid Guide for Law Enforcement
• Supporting People With Co-Occurring IDD and Mental Health Needs Through a Trauma-Informed Lens
• The Arc Oregon’s Mental Health First Aid and IDD Participant Resource Guide

Additional Resources:

• Support Needs of People With IDD and Co-Occurring Mental Health Challenges and Their Families (The Arc, 2018)
• Training Needs of Professionals Who Serve People With IDD and Mental Health Needs and Their Families (The Arc, 2019)
• Mental Health First Aid: Considerations When Offering Mental Health First Aid to a Person With an Intellectual and Disability (MHFA Australia, 2022)
• Mental Health Conditions and Developmental Disabilities (The Academia Training, 2022)