Ohio State University. Office of Outreach and Engagement
Abstract
The "Mind Your Mind" community initiative is about educating everyone to develop a basic level of "mental wellness" knowledge. Building mental health (or MH) knowledge will allow us to take care of our own mental health and talk more intelligently about(and help)those who are suffering. All of which should also help address cultural stigmas,(that have grown from fears and a lack of understanding of MH. Conversely, all of us can and should take responsibility for our own mental health. Mind Your Mind offers two proven evidence-based mental health education programs customized for any public audience. Addtionally anyone can become a course instructor; the training ranges from two to five days of nationally certified instruction. The first 90-minute course is called "Being a GateKeeper" (similar to Ohio State Suicide Prevention Reach Program). Being a gatekeeper is like a neighborhood watch program, except you will learn to be aware of sighs/symptoms of concerning behavior that may indicate someone is having mental issues and could be at risk. The second and core education program is called Mental Health First Aid. This is comprehensive education for anyone and everybody (over 18 years old) and is often called the CPR course for mental health. More than one million people in the United States have taken this eight-hour course (OSU Extension has four certified trainers and is considering expanding it through county educators). Mind Your Mind would in effect partner with Extension and other organizations where appropriate. The primary goal of this initiative to provide basic mental wellness education to everyone and leverage partnerships in offering and marketing to-scale statewide.AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Steve Terrill, Volunteer Advocate, Alumni, [email protected] (Corresponding Author).Mental Health: Be it GOOD, not Bad (the bad news and the good news of our mental health today). Becoming a Gatekeeper overview. The Mental Health First Aid overview. Making it work for you and others
