RED FLAGS
Youth Mental Wellness Training
Indian Lake School leaders continue their commitment to mental health education for students with the Red Flag Program this week.
Over a three-day period, juniors and seniors in the ILHS College and Career Readiness class are learning the social/emotional curriculum recommended by the Ohio Attorney General's Office. Local and national mental health trainers are using the Red Flag Program to help students understand that mental illness is just like a physical illness, despite the societal stigmas attached.
Logan-Champaign County Mental Health Board representatives and statewide mental health advocates Steve and Deb Terrill helped present information to students concerning symptoms of depression, signs someone is seriously considering suicide, and the negative language surrounding mental illness.
Terrill says, “I think they’ll see that it’s ok not to be ok. And it’s ok to get help. It’s also ok to help someone else.”
News and Features
Schools Train to Know Mental Health and to HELP
Adults Youth Mental Health First Aid
COMING SOON!
teen Mental Health First Aid
Training for High School teens to learn basic mental health fundamentals and to equip them to help other youth experiencing a mental health challenge or crisis to get help.
Congress gets serious about Mental Wellness Education
We had the opportunity to discuss with Ohio Senator Rob Portman the importance of mental health education this week. Senator Portman supported increasing the funding to $20 million for Mental Health First Aid training in the recently passed US Budget. The Mental Health First Aid class is often called the the "The CPR course for your Mind".
This is interactive training where everyone can learn to take care of their own mental health and to help others who could be in crisis with addiction and or, at risk of suicide.
Community News
MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID COURSES DISCUSSED
What is mental health first aid and why is it necessary?
Logan County resident Steve Terrill explained Monday to Bellefontaine Rotarians the course he is offering in conjunction with other groups later this month and in January is similar to CPR training for the body.
The course will help people recognize mental health issues and get help for those at risk of suicide and other self-destructive behaviors, the retired farmer and corporate executive told attendees.
Some 25 percent of Americans suffer from some form of mental illness, Terrill noted, and with five suicides in the Indian Lake community recently there is an urgent need for such training locally.
A board member of the Mental Health, Drug & Alcohol Services Board of Logan and Champaign Counties and member of the Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors team, Terrill and his wife, Debbie, are familiar with the grief and loss that make access to quality mental health resources critical.
They are “Gold Star” parents to deceased U.S. Army Sgt. Kevin Lee Terrill. Terrill said he hopes to ease the stigma attached to mental illness and to shift focus from more costly treatment and recovery efforts to education about substance abuse, anxiety, depression etc.
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Mental Wellness Training