C 2012 Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Missouri Department of Mental Health and National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare.
This book was given to me as part of a training presentation by the same name. This training is geared towards nonprofessional people, and provides assistance so they can offer help to their family members, friends, community members or others. It compares this program to first Aid for a physical problem. First Aid aims to preserve life, prevent further harm, promote recovery and resiliency and provide comfort. Mental Health First Aid is geared to promote life when a person may be a danger to themselves or others, prevent the problem from becoming worse, promote recovery, provide comfort and support and help to identify or guide a person to appropriate resources and supports. It does this through the “Youth Mental Health first Aid Action Plan.” This plan includes five steps which spell out ALGEE. 1) Assess for risk of suicide or harm; 2) Listen nonjudgmentally; 3) Give reassurance and information; 4) Encourage appropriate professional help; 5) Encourage self-help and other support strategies.
It includes a section on adolescence and young adulthood, and distinguishing these transitional steps which are part of normal development from mental health issues. It then has a very large section on different mental health issues, and how to apply this model. These include: depression, anxiety, eating disorders, psychosis, substance use and attention and disruptive behavior problems.
It concludes with a how-to handle certain situations. This includes suicidal thoughts, self injury, panic attacks, trauma, acute psychosis, aggressive behavior and emergencies from alcohol or drug abuse.
This workbook is a tremendous resource. However, I would advise taking the course so as to have some practice in the techniques before trying them.
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