Mental Health First Aid

Mental health issues affect all of society in some way, shape, or form. It is estimated that 1 in 5 Americans will experience a diagnosable mental health disorder in any given year. The stresses, strains, and challenges of everyday life increase our vulnerability and likelihood of encountering many mental health problems in our family, workplace, school, or community. Therefore, the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) at the University of Kentucky has partnered with Mental Health First Aid® USA and certified four FCS Specialists as trainers to facilitate trainings for adults and teens to respond in a mental health emergency and offer support to someone who appears in emotional distress.

Mental Health First Aid® provides basic knowledge and skills to respond to an individual in distress. The material provides education on signs and symptoms of several common diagnosable mental health disorders including anxiety, depression, post traumatic disorder, substance misuse, trauma, and deliberate self-injury to name a few. While the material does provide some criteria for certain mental health disorders, it strongly warns against using the knowledge to provide a diagnosis for someone, but rather works to inform community members about mental health in an attempt to reduce stigma, which is one of the biggest barriers to individuals seeking treatment.

In one year, this specialist has conducted two agent trainings and successfully trained a total of 20 agents in the Mental Health First Aid curriculum. While the COVID-19 pandemic halted several scheduled trainings, additional training was sought out and completed by this specialist to be able to provide virtual training to county agents and other university personnel.