Program Offers Mental Health Training to Faith Leaders in the Rio Grande Valley

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On Dec 9,10 2016 Melody Cisneros Milstead will offer the first of many Faith Leader Mental Health First Aid training sessions. This groundbreaking 8-hour training course will kick-off at Centro Cristiano Familiar in Penitas,TX a city part of the Rio Grande Valley (RGV). The course is aimed at giving people tools to identify when someone might be struggling with a mental health or substance use problem and to connect them with appropriate support and resources when necessary.

1 in 5 Americans has a mental illness, but many are reluctant to seek help or might not know where to turn for care. Unlike physical conditions, symptoms of mental health and substance use problems can be difficult to detect. For friends and family members, it can be hard to know when and how to step in. As a result, those in need of mental health services often do not get them until it is too late.

Just as CPR helps even those without clinical training assist an individual having a heart attack, Mental Health First Aid prepares participants to interact with a person experiencing a mental health crisis. Mental Health First Aiders learn a 5-step action plan that guides them through the process of reaching out and offering appropriate support.

“Through this program, we hope to take the fear and hesitation out of starting conversations about mental health and substance use problems,” says Linda Rosenberg President and CEO of the National Council for Behavioral Health, which helped bring Mental Health First Aid to the U.S. in 2008. “When more people are equipped with the tools they need to start a dialogue, more people can get the help they may need.”

In just ten years, Mental Health First Aid has become a full-blown movement in the United States—more than 600,000 people are certified Mental Health First Aiders, and that number is growing every day.

Melody Cisneros Milstead instructor from Urban Strategies Bienestar hopes to train Leaders in the RGV to help inform, train, and break negative stigma for those who experience symptoms of mental illness. Melody will come to your organization and bring this training to your students, employees, congregation, small group, pastors and lay leaders.

For more information or to participate in a Mental Health First Aid training in the RGV contact Melody at mmilstead@urbanstrategies.us or 317-753-9543 or MelviMarleny@gmail.com 956-212-9987 (Administrative Asst)

To learn more about Mental Health First Aid USA, visit www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org.