The ever-evolving importance of mental health and mental health first aid is a priority here at Frederick Community College.
The Counseling and Wellness Services at FCC is offering a Mental Health First Aid training course for staff, faculty and students is 9 a.m to 4:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25.
This is a skills-based training course where the participants will be able to learn about mental health as well as information on substance-use issues and how to support people experiencing mental health challenges.
Counselor Eismily Gebhart will lead the class. She holds a Master of Social Work, is a licensed clinical social worker-Certified. She has been teaching this course for about two years and is certified as an instructor.
“I’ve worked in inpatient settings. I work in private practice. Currently, I provide therapy on campus,” Gebhart said.
According to Gebhart, the course has been around for a long time through the National Council, it is a global program that started in Australia.
“It’s evidence-based, heavily researched, and it’s just kind of grown as one of the leading ways of teaching mental health for people who aren’t going into it as a major,” Gebhart said.
The training will require approximately two hours of online preparation. It contains online learning modules that will help give an understanding of what mental health first aid is and an overview of what the seven hours of training is going to look like.
The main seven hours of training will be interactive with a lot of discussion. People will work together in small groups so that everyone can get as much experience as possible and become comfortable in those types of conversations and interactions involving mental health.
“It’s a lot of material, a lot of heavy material too, and a really big piece of Mental Health First Aid is learning how to be comfortable with having really difficult conversations, conversations that are often stigmatized because it’s mental health based,” Gebhart said.
Gebhart believes participants can be confident in this training that they will be set up for success.
“There’s a quiz at the end of it, but I think that because of how the training is set up and the knowledge checks that are done at the end of each section of that training,” Gebhart said, – “it’s pretty apparent what the answers are going to be. I’ve never had anyone fail.”
Once participants complete this training, you will receive a Mental Health First Aid certification that is good for three years.
According to Gebhart, what you learn from this training can be applied everywhere in your day-to-day life. She stresses the importance of a shift in perspective from being judgmental of someone struggling with mental health to showing that person empathy and understanding what has happened to that person.
Participants will have a better understanding of how mental health affects someone’s behavior and how to read the signals so we can apply first aid, get people the resources they need, and be preventative of a mental health crisis rather than reactive.
There are limited slots for each course with the cap being set at 15 per instructor. If you miss the course but would like to attend the training, don’t worry, there will be available dates year-round including the summer.
To signup, go to SignUpGenius.com or contact Counseling and Wellness Services at [email protected]
