Training mental health volunteers
VOLUNTEERS are being sought to train as CommunityMinders who will learn skills to help them recognise mental health issues in people around them and to offer assistance to sufferers in getting appropriate help.
The Wexford organisation was established last year by Leonard Kelly, Vincent Byrne and Alan and Bernadette Doolan and the first group of CommunityMinders was trained last autumn.
CommunityMinds is now looking for expressions of interest from members of the public who would like to take part in another training programme which is coming up soon, with the details and dates to be announced next week.
It’s a chance for people to make a real difference in their local community, according to Leonard Kelly, an engineer and former General Election candidate who is a trained counsellor.
The mission of CommunityMinds is to embed individuals in local communities with the knowledge, skills and language to act as first responders in relation to mental health in much the same way that people are trained in the use of defibrillators in the event of heart attacks. They will also be strong advocates for positive mental health and wellbeing.
‘Street by street, estate by estate, club by club, workplace by workplace, community by community we can develop the skills and resources to show we care, to ask the question and call for help,’ said Leonard. ‘Mental health issues are common and therefore many people are likely to have close contact with others who are affected but most of us are not well informed in how to recognise problems, how to provide support and the best services available’, he said.
‘Informed people in the community can assist a person in getting help. We also hope to reduce the stigma and discrimination that exists against people with mental health problems by improving public understanding through training and building the network of CommunityMinders’.
The training used by CommunityMinds is Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) which teaches skills in how to help someone who is developing a mental health problem or experiencing the worsening of an existing problem.
Like traditiional first aid, Mental Health First Aid does not teach people to treat or diagnose a mental health or substance mis-use problem. Instead, it teaches people how to offer initial support until appropriate professional help is received or until the crisis resolves.
There will be 20 places on the next course. Anyone who is interested should go to http:// communityminds.ie/sign-up/ where an application form will be posted online along with details of training dates.