Mental Health First Aid Course offered to employees

 

31914mentalhealth640One in five Americans has a mental illness and many are reluctant to seek help or might not know where to turn for care. At Texas Children’s, we are working to build a community that is highly knowledgeable and aware about mental illness and extremely compassionate toward those who might be experiencing it. One of the main ways we are creating this community is by offering Mental Health First Aid*, a world-renowned course that helps people identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illness and substance abuse. The 8-hour course teaches people how to help someone who is experiencing a mental health crisis.

This course:

  • Introduces participants to risk factors and warning signs of mental health concerns, builds understanding of their impact and overviews common treatments.
  • Uses role-playing and simulations to demonstrate how to assess a mental health crisis, select interventions and provide initial help.
  • Connects people to professional, peer and social supports as well and self-help resources.

Texas Children’s Employee Assistance Program started offering the program to its employees at no cost in 2014. “So far, feedback to the program has been fantastic, our goal is to get as many people trained as possible,” said Brent LoCaste-Wilken, program manager of the Employee Assistance Program.

The course is offered on:

Thursday, September 8, 2016
7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Main Campus, Pavilion For Women, fourth-floor conference rooms B and C

Thursday, November 10, 2016
7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
West Campus, Room WC.150.10

To register for the Mental Health First Aid course, go to Learning Academy on Connect.

*Mental Health First Aid was created in 2001 by Betty Kitchener, a nurse specializing in health education, and Anthony Jorm, a mental health literacy professor. Kitchener and Jorm run Mental Health First Aid™ Australia, a national non-profit health promotion charity focused on training and research. The United States is just one of the many countries that have adapted the program.

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