Mental Health First Aid Training Program

An Evidence-Based Practice

Description

Mental Health First Aid is an 8-hour nation-wide, evidence-based training course to teach participants how to help someone who is experiencing a mental health crisis. The course teaches participants how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders. Courses are taught by a trained mental health facilitator to groups ranging from 15 to 50 participants.

NAMI-DuPage has offered Mental Health First Aid courses since 2013, the most recent years are in collaboration with Community Memorial Foundation Hospital. Uniquely, NAMI-DuPage's course facilitators are peers in their community who have first-hand experience with mental health either personally or by a family member. By having a peer mental illness facilitator, it helps the audience "put a face on mental illness". NAMI-Dupage offers their courses in schools (targeting both students, teachers, and staff) and community centers with specific audiences in mind who interact with people throughout their daily jobs, such as police officers and first responders, bank employees, and realtors.

Additionally, NAMI-DuPage offers 4 distinct types of Mental Health First Aid Course:
1. Mental Health First Aid for Adults
2. Mental Health First Aid for Youth
3. Mental Health First Aid for Adults (Spanish)
4. Mental Health First Aid for Police Officers

Goal / Mission

The goals of the Mental Health First Aid course are to: 1) learn to identify risk factors and warning signs for mental health and addiction concerns, 2) utilize evidence-based strategies to help someone in both crisis and non-crisis situations, and 3) become a resource in your community to guide people where to turn for help.

NAMI-DuPage's yearly goal is to complete 70 training courses per year.

Impact

Mental Health First Aid helps community members become aware of signs and symptoms of someone in a mental health crisis and become a resource to mental health and behavioral health programs in their community.

Results / Accomplishments

NAMI-DuPage has over 20 trained peer facilitators, offered the MHFA courses to over 1,000 per year, and throughout general trainings and mental health awareness programs, they reach more than 35,000 people per year.

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) DuPage
Primary Contact
Angela Adkins
115 N County Farm Road
Wheaton, IL 60187
(630) 752-0066
ang.nami@gmail.com
http://namidupage.org/about/staff/
Topics
Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders
Health / Health Care Access & Quality
Community / Social Environment
Organization(s)
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) DuPage
Date of implementation
2014
Geographic Type
Urban
Location
DuPage County, IL
For more details
http://namidupage.org/programs-and-services/mental...
https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/cs/
Target Audience
Teens, Adults

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Related Content for: Mental Health First Aid Training Program

An Evidence-Based Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures showing improvement in the outcome(s) of interest after the implementation of the program (i.e. increase in smoking cessation, not just the delivery of a smoking cessation program). The outcome measure(s) is/are compared at relevant time periods before and after the intervention or program implementation. Alternatively, the evaluation study compares the outcome(s) between an intervention group and an appropriate control group.
  3. The study is of peer-review quality and presents numbers in a scientific manner; measurements of precision and reliability are included (e.g. confidence intervals, standard errors), results from statistical tests show a significant difference or change in the outcome measure(s), and relevant point estimates and p-values are presented. Note: if the results from an evaluation of a program are presented in a scientific manner and the outcome measure is improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant, the practice is classified as effective and not evidence-based.