Mental Health First Aid, from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, is a skills-based training that teaches people how to identify, understand, and respond to signs and symptoms of a mental health or substance use challenge in adults ages 18 and over. The evidence behind the program demonstrates that it builds mental health literacy, providing an action plan that teaches people to safely and responsibly identify and address a potential mental health or substance use challenge.

Over the past 12 months, funded by a grant from the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, the University of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension department has coordinated and facilitated 73 Mental Health First Aid courses for colligate faculty and staff at Kentucky’s public and private institutions of higher learning across the Commonwealth. Seventeen more trainings are scheduled for the late summer and early fall.

From Murray to Pikeville, and at 28 campuses in-between, over 1389 individuals have participated in the training and gained knowledge and skills to recognize and respond to a mental health challenge because of this program.