Leaders at the Community Reach Center in Thornton are holding a mental health first aid certification course Oct. 16- 17 at their headquarters to spread awareness about mental health education throughout the county.
The two days make up an 8-hour course from 5:30-9:30 p.m. that aims to teach people about the signs, symptoms and behaviors associated with certain mental illnesses, said Jennifer Forker, spokeswoman for the Community Reach Center.
Forker said the main lesson that students will learn is how to assess a situation involving someone experiencing a mental health crisis so they know how they can help.
“Mental health problems are incredibly common,” said Brian Turner, special projects director at the Colorado Behavioral Healthcare Council. “These classes empower people to help others in their community … and give them the knowledge and tools to do something.”
Colorado is one of the national pilot states for mental health first aid classes. Turner said programs were implemented in 2008, and now there are more than 100,000 state specialists trained in mental health first aid.
“We’ve have great success and want to see the program grow to schools, police departments and fire stations,” Turner said.
Anyone trained at the Community Reach Center will be certified through the National Behavioral Healthcare Council, in coordination with Maryland Department of Health & Mental Hygiene and the Missouri Department of Mental Health.
The October classes are the last open mental health first aid classes offered at the center this year. In January, Forker said they will host more classes geared specifically toward youth intervention.
According to Turner, more than 22 percent of Colorado high school students reported feeling hopeless every single day for at least two weeks this year. And 15 percent considered attempting suicide, with 6 percent who actually tried.
“In general, untreated mental health issues are associated with things like school failure, teenage childbearing, unemployment and criminal behavior,” he said. “It’s critical that these programs are available so that people can start doing things about these gut-wrenching statistics.”
Turner also said depression is the most costly health condition for employers, and said it causes 217 million missed work days annually.
Forker said saturating the public with mental health awareness and professional resources is the key to supporting mental health education in the country.
“There’s usually not a mental health professional around during the time of a mental health crisis,” she said. “Just as the American Red Cross first-aid course teaches how to provide basic first aid to someone experiencing a medical issue, MHFA teaches folks how to intervene on behalf of someone experiencing a mental health crisis.”
Registration for the course is required and limited. Those who sign up have to attend both classes to complete the course.
The Community Reach Center is at 8989 Huron St., Thornton.
Anyone interested in participating in the certification class can register online at .
Megan Mitchell: 303-954-2650, or mmitchell@denverpost.com
