Youth Mental Health First Aid

Youth Mental Health First Aid is a training for adults 18+ to be able to recognize and help a youth (primarily ages 10-18) who may be experiencing a mental health or addictions challenge or is in crisis. The course introduces common mental health challenges for youth, reviews typical youth development, and teaches a 5-step action plan for how to help young people in both crisis and non-crisis situations.

This course covers:

• Common signs and symptoms of mental health challenges in this age group, including anxiety, depression, eating disorders and attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD).
• Common signs and symptoms of substance use challenges.
• How to interact with a child or adolescent in crisis.
• How to connect the youth with help.
• Content on trauma, substance use, self-care and the impact of social media and bullying.

The total course content takes about 8 hours and is broken down into 3 categories (participants must complete all of these to be certified):

Pre-work

• This takes place on the MHFA Connect platform and it is estimated to take 2 hours. It is self-paced, so you can start and stop as needed.
• This covers a lot of background information and introduces you to the course content.

Instructor Led Sessions

• The instructor led sessions for this course are taking place via zoom over 2 dates, May 1st & May 8th. Learners must attend both of these instructor-led sessions!
• These sessions allow you to meet the others in your course and is where we cover the bulk of the course content.

Post-work

• This consists of the post-test, so we can measure your learning and is how you gain access to your certificate.
• This typically takes 30 minutes.

This is a completely online course, but if you prefer physical materials, we can get those to you prior to the first sessions.

Registration is required and closes April 24th at 5pm. To register email sarah.wilczynski@trinity-health.org