Home › Forums › Open Discussion › Planning Free Mental Health First Aid Class
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September 14, 2014 at 12:16 pm #612672
littlebrowndogParticipantFollowing a great discussion in another thread (for a little background you can see posts 51-60 in the thread “Creep in Ercolini Park) I can see that, as in virtually all communities, a training called Mental Health First Aid (http://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/cs/take-a-course/what-you-learn/) would be helpful for us to understand and welcome people living with mental health and substance use conditions. I am willing to offer a class or two for free, with the only cost being the $17 per person for the manual as I cannot afford to do that for everybody. However, if there are a few people for whom the $17 would be a barrier I can cover it.
Herongrrrl has generously begun looking around for a suitable free location. Thanks so much! I am hoping to do two four-hour sessions on consecutive Saturdays when I am in town, but could also maybe swing a couple of weekdays with enough advance notice. I have to limit class size to 20-25 people to ensure a good learning experience.
So I don’t yet know when and I don’t yet know where, but if you are interested please let me know. A few of you already expressed interest in the earlier thread. To stay on top of things please send me an email at dykstradma@quidnunc.net and I will start a list.
We know how to perform CPR for somebody having a heart attack; here’s information for how to respond with a family member, friend, neighbor, co-worker, community member having a mental health emergency.
Donna
September 14, 2014 at 3:53 pm #813506
KenParticipantWhat I find truly creepy is the avaricious nature of the publisher of the training materials.
39.00 to 352.00 per copy? I am tempted to spend the time to create a pdf of the 126 pages of this “flyer” and post it for free. Eliminating the “stock photo” imagery should bring the size down to miniscule. In this country the barriers to health care are always monetary.
The founding institutions in the US version of MHFA -US seem to be publicly financed and tax supported (though I could be wrong about that)
But copyright violation may not be necessary.
The program originated in Australia and those materials are already available for free.
https://mhfa.com.au/cms/mhfa-downloads
https://mhfa.com.au/sites/mhfa.com.au/files/2nd-Edn-ID-MHFA-Manual-Sept-2012-small.pdf
This is not to take away anything from the OP’s generous offer of time and knowledge and I will pay for one of the official booklets for someone who cannot afford the cost.
In another time and place I would have probably been diagnosed as Autism Spectrum as a child and perhaps that is why I am much more effective working with computers rather than people. I learn from books while I cannot concentrate in a traditional school/class setting
More useful info on this subject can be found via google.
September 14, 2014 at 4:08 pm #813507
littlebrowndogParticipantKen I don’t believe those are from the publisher. They seem to all be used ones. I am therefore guessing they are all being sold by people who have taken the training and are now selling their copies—at a huge profit. It is my understanding that the only place you can buy new ones is the MHFA.org site and only certified instructors can buy them. My exact cost is $17 including shipping. But I am thinking that because you CANNOT order new ones without being a certified instructor there are some people looking to make some money by selling used ones. If you are seeing anywhere that they are new manuals for sale let me know and I will immediately inform the MHFA people. As I mentioned in the other thread there are some people who have grants to do this training so I imagine for some of those classes the manuals are therefore free. And thank you for your very generous offer to help with the cost of a manual for somebody. Great and much appreciated.
September 14, 2014 at 4:19 pm #813508
miwsParticipantD, have you compiled a list of those of us that have so far expressed a desire to take this course, or should we “sign-up” on this thread as well?
Mike
September 14, 2014 at 4:32 pm #813509
littlebrowndogParticipantMike, I am a little scattered right now…sitting at SeaTac waiting to head down to SoCal for a week in the sunshine…and training Veterans! Anyhow the safest thing to do is to send me an email so that I will have contact info for everybody all in one place. Maybe while I am hanging out I will go back to the other thread and ask people to do that. Oh, flight is about to board. Could I impose on you and get you to do that? You were so kind to post the link to this new thread earlier! Thanks much.
September 14, 2014 at 4:53 pm #813510
miwsParticipantSeptember 16, 2014 at 2:15 am #813511
miwsParticipantBump
September 17, 2014 at 1:47 am #813512
westcoastdebParticipantFor those who are on the fence, Mental Health First Aid training is excellent. If nothing else, it does help to look at mental health emergenices as the REAL emergences they really are.
September 19, 2014 at 3:51 am #813513
miwsParticipant -
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