Nearly 100 Mental Health First Aid instructors from over 30 Michigan counties gathered at Grand Rapids’ Hope Network Education Center.
Hope Network, Mental Health Training Consultants and MSU Extension partnered for this first-of-its-kind event enhancing MHFA instructor skills.
Laura Johnson is founder of Mental Health Training Consultants.
“A lot of times, instructors are so busy supporting everyone else that they don’t have that support for themselves.”
Kasie Pickart is Behavioral Health Grants Project Director for Hope Network. She says the need for support of these instructors is great.
“A lot of Mental Health First Aid instructors do this by themselves, and so we want to build a collaboration. Again, the more people we can train and educate across the state, the greater the safety net that we’ll have so people will have the skills to assist individuals.”
And, Johnson says, there’s a growing need for more mental health care givers.
“Studies show one in five U.S. adults will struggle with a mental health challenge in any given year.”
Since 2008, over 115,000 individuals have received MHFA training, with another 10,000 expected to complete training this year.
