Mental Health First Aid

Have you ever wondered what to do if someone was experiencing a mental health issue and needed support? It can be hard to know what to do, how to respond, or how to manage your own feelings in the process.

Signs to pay attention to are:

• Changes in sleeping or eating patterns
• Trouble focusing, concentrating, or racing thoughts
• Persistent sadness
• Excessive worrying
• Extreme mood changes
• Irritability or short temperedness
• Isolation or showing a disinterest in things you like
• Difficulty conducting daily functions
• Increased substance use or addictive behaviors

These signs may not indicate, by themselves, that there is a mental health challenge. However, it does point to the importance of exploring what is happening, why and what can be done to address the behavior. There are many resources to learn more about these signs and what you can do.

• National Alliance of Mental Illness, nami.org/home

• Mental Health America, mhanational.org

• Mental Health First Aid Training gives you the opportunity to learn how to Identify, Understand and Respond when someone may be in need. “Mental Health First Aid is a skills-based training course that teaches participants about mental health and substance use issues. Just as CPR helps you assist an individual having a heart attack, Mental Health First Aid helps you assist someone experiencing a mental health or substance use-related crisis. In the Mental Health First Aid course, you learn risk factors and warning signs for mental health and addiction concerns, strategies for how to help someone in both crisis and non-crisis situations, and where to turn for help.”

Training takes eight hours and at the conclusion, you receive a Certificate in Mental Health First Aid. To learn more about MHFA, go to https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/population-focused-modules/adults/

As you or those around you check in with your mental health, here are some actions you can take:

Journaling

Consider taking time to release old thoughts, feelings, and ideas in your journal. Take time to get these thoughts out on paper as part of decluttering your mind. This allows you to work through the old and open for new thoughts, feelings, and ideas.

Practice Mindfulness

For example, consider using the Peloton app to do a five-minute breathwork class each day. This allows you to breathe out the old and breathe in the new.

Affirm Yourself Daily

Unfortunately, it is too easy to think negatively, hence why it is important to intentionally affirm yourself daily. Each day, start with an affirmation or scripture that centers you, motivates you, and reminds you of how great you really are. This allows you to replace negative thoughts with positive, life-affirming thinking.

Pay It Forward

Checking in with yourself becomes an opportunity to pay it forward and give to others. We can do this mentally as well. Consider doing something in service for someone that you care about or consider writing a letter to someone who may need to know that they matter in your life. Sometimes the people in our lives would also benefit from our service.

You can make a difference!