Just like it’s important to know CPR and first aid, it’s also important to know what to do during a mental health crisis
TORRINGTON, Conn. — Just like knowing how to use an AED or perform CPR can help someone having a heart attack, knowing what to do during a mental health crisis can also help someone in an emergency.
That’s why this month, McCall Behavioral Health Network in Torrington is offering two free mental health first aid trainings at KidsPlay Children’s Museum.
According to their website, you’ll learn “risk factors and warning signs for mental health and addiction concerns, strategies for how to help someone in both crisis and non-crisis situations, and where to turn for help.”
Andrew Lyon is the director of prevention services at McCall and said a crisis can happen to anyone, and anywhere- no communities are immune. That’s why the trainings they offer are open to anyone who wants to attend.
“Understand what skills and tools and resources are available to help whether it’s to intervene, or provide support, and how to get that individual to the support that they might ultimately need,” he said.
Lyon said it’s important to his team that they make their resources accessible to everyone.
“The conditions that present in the community as it pertains to substance use, addiction, mental health- while they may sometimes look identical community to community, a lot of times they’re very specific community, things going on within those communities that really drive those behaviors,” Lyon said.
That’s why on top of offering the free trainings in February, he said they can also work with businesses and organizations who would like the trainings to be brought to them.
The two trainings in February are broken up into two parts, which are four hours each, on Feb. 10, and Feb. 24.
They teach tools and skills, like how to assess a suicide risk, and how to encourage someone to get professional help. It also focuses on communication skills, and language to become familiar with, because Lyon said sometimes the hardest part of helping someone, is just knowing how to start the difficult conversation.
“We have rising rates of anxiety, depression, isolation, loneliness you know culturally we’ve never been very good at discussing mental health issues. Particularly, if we may be the ones suffering with mental health issues, it’s understandably challenging to talk about that. And so we wanted to bring these trainings into McCall so that we can push them out into the community,” Lyon said.
It’s not easy knowing what to do when someone needs help, but the good news is you don’t have to figure it out alone- which is why these trainings were created.
Along with the mental health first aid trainings, McCall also offers another more specific training, focused on suicide prevention. According to their website, “it teaches innovative, yet practical strategies that are proven to help identify signs of crisis and take action to save lives.” You can learn more about that training at this link.
To register for the mental health first aid trainings, you can find more details here. Registration can be made up to the day before, but give yourself time to register because there’s about two hours of required pre-work to fill out before the training.
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Solen Aref is a Multi-Skilled Journalist at FOX61 news. She can be reached at saref@fox61.com.
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