Bill Burns, director of the NDSU Counseling Center, was certified recently as a Mental Health First Aid trainer and will bring the training to the Fargo-Moorhead area in the near future. The center will sponsor trainings sessions for the campus community and individuals or groups in the F-M area. Mental Health First Aid aims to improve the mental health literacy of individuals who complete the training and help them identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illness.
“We are thrilled to bring Mental Health First Aid to our community,” said Burns. “This important educational effort goes a lot further than emergency intervention; it really helps people understand the shroud of fear and misjudgment facing individuals and families who experience mental illnesses and addiction. It will help rid this community of the associated stigma and move more and more people toward recovery.”
Mental Health First Aid, a 12-hour training certification course, teaches participants a five-step action plan to assess a situation, select and implement interventions and secure appropriate care for the individual. The program introduces participants to risk factors and warning signs of mental health problems, builds understanding of their impact and overviews common treatments. Thorough evaluations in randomized, controlled trials and a quantitative study have proven the CPR-like program effective in improving trainees’ knowledge of mental disorders, reducing stigma and increasing the amount of help provided to others.
“We welcome NDSU’s involvement and enthusiasm in the Mental Health First Aid community,” says Linda Rosenberg, president and CEO of the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, the organization that brought Mental Health First Aid to the United States in 2008. “We know they will have a great impact on the mental health communities throughout the Fargo-Moorhead area and will be key players in improving mental health literacy nationwide.”
In its pilot year, the program was introduced in nearly 20 states and more than 40 communities nationwide. The National Council certified Burns to provide the Mental Health First Aid program in August through an instructor certification course in Boulder, Colo. NDSU and all the sites across the nation that replicate this program maintain strict fidelity to the original, proven program.
For more information or to participate in Mental Health First Aid training in the F-M area, contact Burns at 1-7671, or william.burns@ndsu.edu.