Taylorville Memorial Hospital will host a session to train community members to learn how to identify and respond to youth showing signs of mental illness and substance abuse. This training is recommended for anyone 18 or older who regularly have contact with young people ages 12-18 such as teachers, coaches, social workers, faith leaders and other caring citizens, but is open to everyone.
The session will begin at 8 a.m. on September 15th in the classroom on the 4th floor of the hospital. The training is $16.95 to provide training materials. You may register online at memorialbehavioralhealth.com/professionals, or by calling Heather Sweet at 217-588-7804 or email sweet.heather@mhsil.com.
“Mental Health First Aid has been called ‘CPR for the mind’. Most people know how to recognize and appropriately react to medical emergencies, but there is little knowledge in the general public about what to do in a mental health crisis, particularly with youth,” said Penny Shehadeh, Nurse Educator at TMH. "This session will provide people in our community with the resources they need to know how to respond."
Mental Health First Aid teaches signs of addictions and mental illnesses, a five-step action plan to assess a situation and help, the impact of mental health and substance use disorders, and local resources and where to turn for help.
The four hospitals of Memorial Health System and Memorial Behavioral Health are sponsoring Mental Health First Aid for communities in central Illinois.