Mental Health First Aid going virtual: Bert Nash Center to offer program for teens

In the last two years, the Bert Nash Center has trained and certified more than 1,000 new Mental Health First Aiders. These community members, parents, teachers, friends, and colleagues learned the skills needed to help identify when a friend, colleague, student, or family member is struggling with their mental health or is in crisis. They also learn how to be helpful in the moment, both by helping someone connect to appropriate professional help as well as by being a nonjudgmental listener. Moreover, these First Aiders learned about the importance of self-care and of how to encourage others to engage in self-care, too.

Throughout Douglas County’s experience of the Covid-19 pandemic, these skills are crucial in helping people take care and support each other. While in-person Mental Health First Aid classes have been suspended, the Bert Nash Center’s

instructor team continues to pursue new and additional ways to provide this crucial training.

Both Adult Mental Health First Aid and Youth Mental Health First Aid are in the process of going virtual. The National Council for Behavioral Health has indicated that the virtual options will be released soon. Julia Gaughan, the Prevention and Education Manager for the Center and the lead MHFA instructor at the Center, will make available multiple options as soon as the go-ahead is given, which will be circulated through social media and the Center’s mailing lists.

The Bert Nash Center has also just received notification that it will serve as an implementing site for teen Mental Health First Aid. tMHFA is a new offering that has been in pilot stage for the last two years. tMHFA was made possible with support from Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation.

tMHFA is similar to the Adult and Youth versions of Mental Health First Aid in that it helps teens know when help is needed and how to help. tMHFA though has been developed with its teen audience in mind. The class is divided into several, much shorter sessions, and focuses on connecting teens to adults that can provide more extensive support. The videos for the course feature teens sharing their lived experiences, with the content geared for teens in 10th through 12th grades.

As a newly sanctioned implementing site, the Bert Nash Center will train (virtually) this summer and will be putting together plans to offer this in local high schools. If you are interested in more information, visit MHFA.org/teens or contact Julia at jgaughan@bertnash.org.