Tag: mental health first aid

A new program meant to certify all Gloucester High ninth-graders in Teen Mental Health First Aid was kicked off Monday.

The program is a new partnership among Gloucester Public Schools, the city’s Health Department, the Cape Ann YMCA and the Justice Resource Institute.

Powering implementation of the program is funding from The Tower Foundation awarded to the Health Department, according to Amy Kamm, the school department’s director of mental health and social-emotional learning.

Teen Mental Health First Aid is an evidence-based training that teaches teens to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental health and substance use challenges in their friends and peers. The training is designed to provide teens with the skills for supportive conversations with their friends and emphasizes the importance of getting help from a responsible and trusted adult, according to a statement from the partnership.

“Last year this program was piloted with 10th graders in homerooms,” Gloucester High Principal James Cook said. “To ensure a more comprehensive implementation this year it will be embedded into our standard ninth-grade health and wellness curriculum.”

“Certified trainers,” he said, “will present to five classes a week for six weeks and topics include mental health challenges and their impact, effective treatments, helping a friend in crisis, where and how to get the help of a trusted adult, and recovery and resiliency.”

At issue, teens tend to turn to each other when stressed or upset and try to help, sometimes taking on too much. Teen Mental Health First Aid teaches teens they don’t have to take on these problems alone.

“By offering the Teen Mental Health First Aid program,” Kamm said, “Gloucester High School and the Gloucester Health Department aim to promote help-seeking behavior; improve a young person’s ability to identify resources of support; and to increase mental health literacy including improved ability to identify mental health struggles in themselves and their peers and when needed, to connect to a trusted adult.”