When someone is struggling with their mental health, there aren’t always visible signs, and even if there are, it may be difficult to determine a proper response.
A person who witnesses a car crash, a person who fails their latest math test, and a person whose relative recently died may all be in stages of crisis. But what do they need?
This is the premise of Mental Health First Aid [MHFA] that teaches regular people — without specialized degrees — effective methods for intervening during a mental health crisis. It teaches warning signs, communication skills and referral information, so people who need professional help know where to find it.
“It's just so important because we see the community needs, the gaps in services, the barriers to care,” said Sonja Workman, the peer services development and community training program manager at the McLean County Center for Human Services [MCCHS]. “So when we increase community training opportunities, it increases knowledge base on what community resources there are.”
That’s part of the reason the center is offering additional mental health training to the public — some of which started Thursday.
The Center for Human Services already initiated QPR Suicide Prevention Training and will start Mental Health First Aid in mid-February in a larger effort to raise mental health awareness. It’s using just under $200,000 in federal funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA] to make it all happen.
In the first year, the goal is to train 300 people in QPR, 200 in MHFA and 140 in Youth MHFA — a version of the program targeted at helping children — according to the project proposal to SAMHSA.
Growth from existing efforts
These trainings will expand on existing efforts in McLean County that started in 2014 with the launch of a collaboration among the center, the health department and several other Bloomington-Normal organizations. Nearly a decade later, the health department says it’s trained more than 3,200 residents to be First Aiders.
Catrina Parker joined the health department last year as a family engagement specialist.
She said First Aiders can be anyone — from people who work in the field like social workers and home visitors, to retired community members looking for a way to helpa relative or friend. This versatility is an intentional program design.
“Because this issue is important to everyone,” explained Parker, adding that training is open to people 18 years and older.
“We do emphasize that we don't diagnose or treat — so you're not going to go in and say, ‘I think you have this,’” Parker said. “It's more of an awareness piece, so you'll be equipped to [implement ALGEE].”
ALGEE is the Mental Health First Aid acronym and steps to take when someone is in a suspected crisis: Approach, assess for risk of suicide or harm, Listen non-judgmentally, Give reassurance and information, Encourage appropriate professional help, and Encourage self-help and other support strategies.
The county offers three types of MHFA training, each focusing on a different age group — adults, older adults and youth. Parker said the county would like to offer a rural option soon.
Emily Hartley took the Adults Mental Health First Aid course with the county in 2020 when she was still a student at Illinois State University and working with YWCA Labyrinth Outreach Services to Women.
“I think that I really do use it every single day,” she said of the skills she learned.
This includes in her current work at Brightpoint as a communications services coordinator, and everywhere else.
Mental Health First Aid in action
As Workman with MCCHS said, “You can use it not only in the workplace, but in your personal life and at moments that you're not even aware of.”
For example, running errands.
“I was in a major grocery store and getting ready to check out with my basket full of groceries, and I saw a man just fall over in the store, and so I started to rush up,” Workman explained.
Her immediate priority was the man who fell and — Workman determined — required medical attention.
But after he was cared for, her training prompted her to look elsewhere — back to the bystanders she saw, who also needed help.
“I could see the shock and the panic in their eyes [when it happened],” she said, adding she could tell they needed support. She sat down with a store manager to talk through everything.
“That's what Mental Health First Aid is about — is helping individuals in distress,” Workman said.
‘Folks are in crisis’
There are plenty of people who qualify, said Hartley with Brightpoint.
“Families are in crisis,” she said. “I think that we see that a lot around right now, especially post-COVID — that folks are in crisis, and they just don't know where to turn and they don't know what to do.”
Del Saam is the program coordinator for Veterans Treatment Court in the county. At work, he said he frequently encounters people experiencing mental distress.
He took the county’s Mental Health First Aid course on Jan. 18.
“It can be kind of interesting to put it into practice because it is very emotional when somebody's going through that stuff,” Saam said in a conversation after the course. “But I think they teach it very simply.”
As a Mental Health First Aider, Hartley said she feels “confident and comfortable” stepping in to offer a listening ear and refer people to local services if needed.
Potential for further expansion
Dawn Pote said that sense of empowerment is one of the reasons she took the added step of getting certified to become a Mental Health First Aid Trainer. It also applies to her job as the executive director of wellbeing and recreation at Illinois State University.
“I look forward to being able to help other folks have that confidence that what they say can make a difference, and how they approach different topics can make an impact that we don't even know,” she said, adding she knows of faculty and staff who are asking for this type of guidance.
Pote’s been in this position herself.
“I wish I would have had [the] words, then,” she said, recalling a time a student brought up the issue of ADHD medication during a meeting, and Pote, who lacked MHFA training at the time, didn’t feel equipped to provide adequate assistance.
“Today, I can,” she said.
With her recent certification, Pote said the ultimate goal will be to launch a training program at the university — expanding opportunities further for the county.
