MCLEAN COUNTY, Ill. (WMBD) — May is Mental Health Awareness Month and the McLean County Health Department is offering a Mental Health First Aid Course.
This class is designed to teach the public how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illness and substance use.
“With mental health first aid, you are given tools and the ability to put them into practice to know how to respond in such situations,” says Autumn Olowo, a community health specialist.
Olowo took the course four years ago and now teaches it himself.
“Often, we may notice changes in a person’s appearance or behavior that may indicate something is going on, but we may not know how to react. So most of the time, people “I don’t say anything,” she said.
Similar to physical first aid, psychological first aid is also intended to provide first-line support in an emergency.
“Their job is to identify a specialist and provide support until you are connected to that specialist. Therefore, they do not treat or diagnose. But by the same token, their job is to help support And in some cases, it may be a good idea to stabilize it until further support is available,” Olowo said.
The Mental Health First Aid class is a collaborative effort. Offered at Carl Blommen Medical Center, OSF St. Joseph Medical Center, Illinois State University, and other health centers in McLean County.
Marianne Manko from the Department of Health hopes the class will help eliminate the stigma of talking about mental health issues.
“The stigma that we have, and talking about it, or saying, ‘If you don’t deal with it yourself or ask for help, you’re weak,’ that’s so wrong. And we’re trying to change that stigma. . There’s no separation between mental health and physical health. It’s part of our lives, so let’s talk about it,” Manco said.
The next Mental Health First Aid class will be held on June 7th at St. Joseph Medical Center.
