ACT Missouri and the state Department of Mental Health (DMH) are teaming up to teach communities across the state mental health first aid.
The eight-hour course teaches attendees how to recognize symptoms of mental health problems, how to offer and provide initial help and how to guide a person toward appropriate treatments and other help, Debra Walker, from the office of public affairs for the DMH, wrote in an email.
Mental health first aid was introduced under Gov. Jay Nixon's Strengthening Missouri's Mental Health initiatives and has been expanded across the state. During the 2014 fiscal year, more than 1,000 people were trained for first aid. Most trainees were those who would commonly encounter people with mental illnesses, such as teachers, the clergy, employers, police and other first responders, Walker stated in her correspondence.
"It (mental health first aid) is fairly new to Missouri," said Alicia Ozenberger, a mental health first aid instructor and the deputy director of the Association of Community Task Forces of Missouri. "It was originally designed because we have medical first aid for folks. But what we were seeing was the average person on the street did not know what to do when they encountered someone who was having a mental health crisis."
Ozenberger has trained mental health first aid students in Rolla, Columbia, Herman and other locations in Mid-Missouri, she said. The course teaches people how to recognize and intervene during times of mental crisis, but a large part of the course is about staying with the person who is in crisis mode until professional help can arrive, just like medical first aid, she said.
"They don't go into diagnosis, but they show a broader view of issues someone may face, like depression or suicide," Ozenberger said about the training. "The majority of people are intimidated because they just don't have the knowledge of how to intervene. There is a lot of knowledge tied to mental health, but this (mental health first aid) demystifies it."
The course instructors also don't teach people to counsel either because mental health first aid is not about talking to the people who need help as much as it is about listening and not being judgmental, she continued. Also, the course teaches people how to keep themselves and the person with mental issues safe until professional help arrives and when it is appropriate to call the police or emergency medical services for mental issues.
"We have seen a lot of instances where a person has brought violence to the place of worship," said Terry Luikart, member of the First United Methodist Church, who attended the first first aid course in St. Louis last year. "Upon investigation of their life and such, we found they usually had mental issues."
Luikart is a member of his church's safety team, which was started about three years ago with assistance from the Cole County Sheriff's Office, he said. The team is a group of greeters who attend the church and are designated to help in case of an emergency.
Since his training, he has had to use what he was taught several times, Luikart said. He also said that when you follow the correct procedures and do what you are supposed to do there is no way of telling what you may have prevented.
"I thought it was very worthwhile training and they gave us a lot of good information that I brought back to my church," Luikart said. "One of the most interesting things was the statistics that were given in the opening statement. Did you know that 43 percent of the people that have mental issues first venture into seeking help is to go to a church? That was a real eye opener to me ... The first people they would run into would be people like myself."
Luikart attended the course designed for faith workers, but there are other courses designed for first responders such as police and medical workers. The most recent course was designed and given to teachers and school administrators and it was geared toward youth-related mental issues, Ozenberger said.
ACT Missouri is a statewide training resource center that provides prevention resources and training to regional support centers and prevention coalitions around the state. They have just started their fiscal year and have not scheduled their next first aid training seminar.
To get more information on mental health first aid, go online to mhfamissouri.org or contact the Missouri Institute of Mental Health.