Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is an international movement to train everyday people to recognize, understand, and respond to mental health challenges. First, you will work through about two hours of content in an online learning system at your own pace and on your own schedule. Then, you’ll join us for a day of in-person learning, discussion, and educational exercises that will help you feel more confident in putting your knowledge to use.
In the live portion of the class, we engage with a combination of slideshow presentations, short videos, large and small group discussion, and small group activities. Through these activities we’ll explore how we can put the MHFA Action Plan to use in situations where we are noticing early, worsening, and crisis signs and symptoms.
Some mental health challenges that we discuss in this course include anxiety, depression, diagnoses involving psychosis, reactions to traumatic events, substance use including alcohol and opioids, aggressive behavior, eating disorders, and more. These topics can be difficult to speak openly about in our culture, but we will “smash the stigma” around mental illness by moving through the course material with directness and care.
Upon successful completion of Adult Mental Health First Aid USA, participants will earn a 3-year certification.
Masks are required for participants at this event. I will take a PlusLife test within 24 hours before the event to remain unmasked for instruction.