You’ve heard of first aid, but how do we recognize and treat signs of mental health issues in those around us? This training from UnityPoint hopes to help.
MOLINE, Ill. — As Mental Health Awareness Month continues in May, UnityPoint Health — Robert Young Center is encouraging community members to learn how to recognize and respond to mental health and substance use challenges through its Mental Health First Aid training program.
Sarah Olson is the manager of support services at Robert Young Center. She said the evidence-based program is designed to help participants identify warning signs, reduce stigma and connect individuals with appropriate support resources.
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“Mental health first aid is an evidence-based program,” Olson said. “It teaches individuals how to identify signs and symptoms of a mental health or a substance use challenge, works to reduce stigma and promote recovery.”
The training is geared toward adults ages 18 and older and includes an eight-hour course led by certified Mental Health First Aid instructors from Robert Young Center. Olson said the organization hosts trainings on-site and also travels to schools, businesses, churches and community organizations throughout the region.
The sessions cover common signs and symptoms of mental health and substance use challenges, how to respond to someone in crisis, trauma awareness, self-care and how to connect individuals with professional or self-help resources.
Participants are also taught the Mental Health First Aid Action Plan, which includes assessing for risk of suicide or harm, listening non-judgmentally, giving reassurance and information, encouraging professional help and supporting self-help strategies.
Olson said the need for the training is significant.
“Nearly one out of five adults in the United States are going to face a mental health challenge sometime in their life, and then nearly 48 million are affected by substance use disorders,” Olson said. “So it’s really important that as many of us as possible can support those individuals as they start to face this challenge.”
The program is open to anyone regardless of education or professional background.
“This is a great educational opportunity for anybody regardless of your background, your education, your experiences,” Olson said. “Schools, businesses, church organizations, community groups, anyone or any agency could really benefit from having individuals trained this way.”
Olson, one of two certified instructors at Robert Young Center, said a major focus of the course is teaching participants to notice behavioral changes and approach conversations with empathy rather than judgment.
“We want to recognize those signs and symptoms, but also how do we approach someone?” Olson said. “How do we come and have that conversation, be able to listen to them without judgment and then connect them to either self-help resources or professional local help?”
She compared mental health first aid to traditional medical first aid.
“When you are doing medical first aid, you don’t go and do any major surgeries,” Olson said. “Our biggest responsibility is just to be noticing when there are changes, when someone is outside of their norm.”
Examples can include someone appearing unusually tired, withdrawn or disheveled, she said, though those changes may stem from a variety of life circumstances.
“It’s that willingness to be able to pay attention to those that are around us and be able to have that hard conversation with them and approach them in a supportive fashion,” Olson said.
Another key goal of the program is reducing stigma surrounding mental health and substance use disorders.
“We work a lot with what we say and how we say it,” Olson said. “We want it to be very person-centric and not focusing on what they might be experiencing, but the individual themselves.”
Olson said organizers hope participants leave feeling more confident discussing mental health concerns and intervening before situations escalate into crises.
“We’d love everyone to have a better understanding of mental health and substance use and be able to go back to their communities and reduce stigma and support the individuals that may be facing challenges there,” she said.
In addition to Mental Health First Aid training, Robert Young Center offers a range of behavioral health services across Illinois and Iowa, including therapy, psychiatry, intensive outpatient treatment and children’s diagnostic services.
People interested in scheduling a Mental Health First Aid training can contact Robert Young Center at 563-742-2455 or visit unitypoint.org for more information.
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