The National Alliance On Mental Illness (NAMI) has designated September as National Suicide Prevention Month. In addition, October 6 is National Depression Screening Day which began in 1991, and October 10 is World Mental Health Day. In recognition of these important initiatives, learn skills to support someone experiencing a mental health or substance use challenge or crisis.
How to Help (HTH) introduces participants to Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), a skills-based training that teaches participants about mental illness and substance use challenges, how best to offer support, connect to professional resources, the importance of self-care and how to reduce stigma. Participants will learn actionable steps they can use right away to better support someone.
The webinar is offered by certified MHFA instructor, Danielle Casioppo, MS, Education Specialist and Coordinator with Being Well at Yale. She created HTH in early 2021 to introduce the fundamentals of MHFA to those who may not have time for the full 8-hour certification course and to give participants some skills they can start to use right away. To date, she has offered 19 HTH sessions to over 550 participants.
The feedback from participants has been very positive:
- “Thank you so much. This program is so important, I almost wish everyone was actually required to take it. We could all use these skills to support each other.”
- “I have a MHFA certification; I attended the class as a refresher and was glad I did - the information was presented very well!”
- “So many resources and information I hadn’t known before, this was super helpful!”
Since August of 2020, Danielle has led 25 virtual MHFA courses. With the help of her colleague and fellow instructor, Dr. Asha Shipman, they have trained 287 Yale affiliates to date. During HTH, Danielle will provide information about upcoming MHFA certification courses and answer questions about the course.
Many organizations at Yale are passionate about the subject of mental health. The promotion of the webinar has been a team effort and is co-sponsored by the Future Leaders of Yale and Working Women’s Network.
The webinar is open to all Yale affiliates and was recorded. Yale faculty and staff may access it via Box: How to Help - Autumn Awareness
Other Yale affiliates, please contact beingwell@yale.edu for more information.