Mental Health First Aid Cover Story

Mental Health First Aid Cover Story
by Joni Jones

There are more than eight million adults and children living in the United States with mental illness and addiction disorders. Statistics will show 1 in 5 Americans suffers from a diagnosable mental illness each year. Mental illnesses are the leading cause of disability in our Country and affect everyone across age, sex, race and socio-economic status. Chances are those reading this article have known someone affected, or may even have challenges themselves.

The National Council for Behavioral Health revealed statistics showing among Medicaid beneficiaries with disabilities, 49% have a mental illness. Mental illness drains our economy of more than 80 billion dollars every year; 15% of the total economic burden of all disease. Serious mental illnesses cost our society 255.4 billion dollars annually in lost earnings. More than half of all prison inmates have a mental health problem; Up to 2/3 of homeless adults suffer from chronic alcoholism, drug addiction, mental illness or some combination of all three. ¼ of all Social Security disability payments are for affected individuals.

More than 36,000 die by suicide every year. In the public system, those with serious mental illness die 25 years sooner than the general population- men at about age 53 and woman at age 59. Globally, 3 of the 6 leading disabilities are due to depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Up to 90% of people being treated recover. Mental health treatments do work. (80% bipolar, 70% major depression, panic disorder, OCD; 60% schizophrenia- compare these success rates to physical healthcare- 70-80% asthma and diabetes, 60-70% cardiovascular disease 41-52% heart disease), yet 2/3 go without treatment, mostly because of the associated stigma and inability to access appropriate care.

We currently have a mental health system that waits for people to be very sick or in a crisis situation before we help them, and once they begin to get well, we tend to take the resources and supports away. We just cannot treat the acute crisis situation. It is not a broken leg that gets casted, with the injury becoming a distant memory. We really must get to the underlying reasons as to why a crisis occurs. In order to do this a set of supports and services should stay in place to help prevent or lessen the impact of the illness. The associated stigma that promotes fear in individuals to seek treatment needs to change immediately.

The medical community has already learned the concept the earlier we can intervene, the better the outcome. We have seen this in the decrease in mortality rate for those with strokes, cardiac disease, AIDS, and certain types of malignancies.

We learned with AIDS, the best form of treatment is prevention. We identify those who are HIV positive because they are at high risk for AIDS. Data will show a 96% reduction in transmission simply because we responded to the identified risk factors.

We do not wait for someone to go into cardiac arrest to say they have heart disease. We monitor their blood pressure, cholesterol, and weight. We treat the known risk factors with medication and lifestyle changes. Early intervention by identifying risk factors has saved millions of lives as we certainly don’t wait for a full blown heart attack before we identify them as having cardiac disease.

We can identify individuals with changes in behaviors, and identify certain risk factors and biological changes consistent towards studies that support a developing a mental illness and provide the necessary intervention to preserve one’s life. We have already shown that if we intervene with people experiencing grief because of a loss, we can lessen the risk that the impact will result in a diagnosed mental disorder.

People across the country are realizing the importance of early identification and intervention for mental illness. Much of that awareness unfortunately has come about because of televised tragedies. Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is becoming a powerful conduit for providing the community education necessary to train participants to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illness on a “first aid” basis.

Family members, friends, and co-workers are the people most likely to notice when an individual’s behavior changes, but they usually don’t know the meaning of such changes, how to respond or even where to get help. MHFA provides that information. It also provides a rallying point and focus to a community’s healing and desire to take positive action. It can help shape community discussion about mental illness, public safety, stigma, and how we care for the most vulnerable among us. It could be our best hope for identifying and intervening at the early signs of possible illness.

MHFA is an evidenced based public education that teaches how to assess a situation, learn appropriate interventions, and help a person in crisis or developing the signs and symptoms of mental illness. This groundbreaking training equips people to provide initial help until appropriate professional, peer or family support can be engaged. Participants also learn about the risk factors and warning signs of specific illnesses such as anxiety, depression, psychosis, and addiction.

MHFA was introduced into the U.S. in 2008. It is a low cost, high impact program that generates tremendous community awareness and support. It is an 8 hour program that can be delivered over one or multiple days. Participants learn a 5 step action plan. It is an interactive program monitored by The National Council for Behavioral Health, which certifies individuals who teach the course. It is changing the stigma, necessary to promote appropriate access to care.

Koala Cares LLC is an organization located in Ocean County that provides trainings to individuals, communities, professionals and organization. To learn more about this program and how you or your organization can be trained visit www.mentalhealthfirstaidinstructors.com.