KANNAPOLIS — Monarch will offer a mental health first aid training program Friday to help people recognize and assist during a mental health emergency.
The training also aims to reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness, which can result in fear and discrimination toward people struggling with a mental health challenge.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI), one in four adults and one in five youth experience mental illness in a given year. That’s about 60 million Americans without regard to race, religion or socioeconomic background.
Monarch is partnering with Mental Health First Aid USA to bring a community service to the region. Just as CPR training helps people with no medical or clinical training assist someone who is suffering a heart attack, MHFA training can equip a person to assist someone experiencing a mental health crisis, such as contemplating suicide or inflicting harm on others.
In both situations, the goal is to help support an individual in crisis until help arrives.
The training will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Cardinal Innovations Healthcare Solutions, 4855 Milestone Ave. in Kannapolis.
The training program increases the understanding that mental illness is real, common and treatable. The program gives participants an overview of substance use disorders and mental illness that include, but not limited to depression, anxiety, trauma, psychosis, eating disorders and self-injury.
Participants will be introduced to risk factors and warning signs of these illnesses.
The eight-hour course will give participants a five-step action plan to use in crisis situations involving individuals with mental illness or substance use disorders. Participants will be able to connect individuals demonstrating or exhibiting these signs with appropriate professional care and resources.
To learn more about Monarch’s Mental Health First Aid program, call Blake Martin at 704-986-1584 or email blake.martin@monarchnc.org. Monarch is nationally accredited by the Council on Quality and Leadership and is CABHA certified.
The nonprofit organization offers services in 55 counties statewide and is an affiliate chapter of The Arc of North Carolina and The Arc of the United States. To learn more about Monarch, call 800-230-7525 or visit www.MonarchNC.org .