What is Mental Health First Aid?

Most of us would know how to help if we saw someone having a heart attack — we’d start CPR, or at the very least call 911. But too few of us would know how to respond if we saw someone having a panic attack or if we were concerned that a friend or co-worker might be showing signs of alcoholism.

Mental Health First Aid is a skills-based training course that teaches participants about mental health and substance-use issues.

Mental Health First Aid takes the fear and hesitation out of starting conversations about mental health and substance use problems by improving understanding and providing an action plan that teaches people to safely and responsibly identify and address a potential mental illness or substance use disorder. You’ll learn strategies for how to help someone in both crisis and non-crisis situations, and where to turn for help.

Topics covered include:

  • Depression and mood disorders
  • Anxiety disorders
  • Trauma
  • Psychosis
  • Substance use disorders

Mental Health First Aid at Carleton

Carleton’s Office of Health Promotion (OHP) sponsors Mental Health First Aid training each term. In addition to the usual curriculum, Carleton’s course explores the unique issues presented at a college campus, such as:

  • Statistics on college student mental illness prevalence
  • Information about Carleton-specific resources
  • Discussion about the implications of the emergence of signs and symptoms of a mental illness in the residential college setting

Learn more and register on the OHP website.