(Pocahontas)– A series of free youth mental health first aid training sessions will be held throughout the region with the first one coming up November 15th in Pocahontas. Connie Johnson is with the Prairie Lakes Area Education Agency, which is putting on the sessions. She tells KUOO news the six-hour training sessions are being made available to anyone who works with adolescents from 12 to 18-years-old…
“It’s not just for educators. In fact I plan to attend. I am a Sunday school teacher and I work with youth through the church and I just want to better inform myself and better prepare myself to work for kids and so we welcome anyone who works with youth to participate in one of these free trainings.”
Johnson says early intervention is key when it comes to mental health issues, especially in youth…
“You know obviously the news is filled with mental health stories of children and youth in crisis and so this will help adults who have kids, who work with kids recognize signs and symptoms of mental health problems and also some actions that they can take to help a youth that might be facing mental health problems or is in crisis and as well as reducing the stigma that seems to surround mental health.”
The sessions will be taught by certified youth mental health trainers. Johnson says pre-registration is requested…
“We need atleast six to host one of the courses and our maximum is 30, so we need to have folks pre-register before they attend so we can get the materials ready. And, you know, we as Prairie Lakes cover 14 counties and the locations are spread throughout and across our region so hopefully one of those, I mean folks are welcome to attend wherever they’d like.”
You can sign up and get more information by calling (515) 606-7028. In addition to the one November 15th in Pocahontas, training sessions will also be held January 6th in Algona; January 28th in Fort Dodge; February 11th in Spencer; March 5th in Storm Lake and April 6th in Pocahontas.
