Heather Latter
Educators with the Rainy River District School Board and from Seven Generations Education Institute continued with their second day of mental health first aid training today at the school board office in an effort to prepare themselves to help students who may be developing a mental health problem.
“Some mental health problems are more common than many physical health problems,” noted Laura Chabot, a children’s mental health therapist with the Kenora-Rainy River Districts Child and Family Services.
“While people often know a lot about physical illness, most people have little knowledge about mental illness,” she explained.
“This lack of understanding promotes fear and stigma,” Chabot added.
“It prevents people from seeking help early and seeking the most effective help.”
Chabot noted it also keeps people from providing appropriate help to friends, family members, and people around them simply because they do not know how.
She added Mental Health First Aid Canada teaches mental health first aid skills.
“This course does not teach people to be therapists, counsellors, or mental health professionals,” she stressed.
“The philosophy behind Mental Health First Aid Canada is that mental health crises, such as suicide and self- harming actions, may be avoided through early intervention.
“If crises do arise, then members of the public can take action that may reduce the harm that could result,” she remarked.
Chabot, along with Kim Kirk of Seven Generations Education Institute, are certified mental health first aid trainers within the district.
They presented many topics over the two-day session, including substance related disorders, mood disorders, deliberate self-injury, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, and psychotic disorders.
And in all presentations, the focus was on youth.
“Many mental health problems often first develop during adolescence,” Chabot explained.
“Half of mental health disorders begin at age 14 and 75 percent beginning by age 24.”
She indicated the social, educational, and family environments in which mental health disorders occur in young people are different from those later in life.
“Therefore, the information today is designed to be sensitive to the unique aspects of mental health problems in young people,” she said.
“It is meant to assist education professionals, health providers, parents, and other adults in the identification of metal health problems and the appropriate first aid intervention strategies.
“Early identification can help improve the lives of young people across Canada,” she reiterated.
Chabot stressed it’s very important to break the stigma that surrounds mental health and mental health problems.
“To provide the education, the warning symptoms, and signs, and promote people to get the help they need and deserve,” she explained, citing one-in-three people will experience a mental health problem during the course of their life.
“It’s more common to experience it than it is to not, in some cases,” Chabot noted.
“So it’s just getting that information out there, explaining what the mental health problems are and what to do about it.”
Kirk said the educators are learning about ALGEE.
“That means we are assessing the risks, listening non-judgementally, giving reassurance, encouraging supports, and then encouraging professional supports,” she explained.
“So we’re providing the teachers and educators to have the information available that they need to guide the students to the proper supports.”
Kirk said the session includes some audio and video clips from the Mental Health First Aid Commission that are very moving and bring the importance of mental health first aid to the forefront.
“[The goal is] that the teachers are able to help their students, and that everybody in the classrooms and the schools has the training so that our students are being recognized and getting the help they need when they need it,” Kirk remarked.
A total of 28 educators took part in the two-day session to certify them in mental health first aid.
It is the second session offered. The first, held last spring, saw 15 educators volunteer.
The hope is eventually all educators will receive the training.
