The need for mental healthcare services is constant. In some places, particularly rural areas, it can be a struggle to find a provider.
That struggle increases in an emergency or crisis situation.
A grant is helping the Tazewell County Health Department grow their toolbox for handling mental health challenges.
Shanita Wallace is the Supervisor of the Community Health Division, she says two more staff at the health department will be trained in "mental health first aid."
“It is very similar to CPR first aid in that you learn, first, what are the different cardiac arrest and the heart attack and the stroke and the signs and symptoms, mental health first aid starts off by teaching about the different mental health conditions and diagnoses that are available,” Wallace said. “Then it teaches the different signs and symptoms of them and how you can respond accordingly.”
For an example of what that looks like in action, Wallace shares a story about an actual incident at an area Walmart.
“There was somebody having a panic attack and just kind of wandering around the front, near the restrooms,” she said. “And there was somebody who was actually certified in mental health first aid.”
Wallace says the mental health first aid certified individual was able to talk with the person, learn that they regularly experienced panic attacks, and lead them through some breathing exercises while waiting for 911 to come.
There are a few steps to getting someone certified in this way. Wallace says the class utilized by the health department follows a hybrid model.
“It’s about a two and a half hour class online and then you come and take four and a half hours for youth [certifications] and five and a half hours for adult [certifications,]” Wallace said.
Following the classes, candidates take a test to get their full status as Mental Health First Aid certified.
The grant, a nearly $14,000 award from the Community Foundation of Central Illinois, will help the department certify three additional staff members. Wallace says this will bring the total up to five.
The health department will also run eight class sessions free of charge for the community using the grant funding.
“This allows us to get more to the community level,” Wallace said. “By offering it free of charge, we have the opportunity to get to people who might actually need it the most.”
Right now, Wallace says the department has a waitlist of community members who want to be a part of the certification classes that they're working their way through. There's a desire for the certification from local organizations as well.
“We did all the Goodwill's in the five county region. They brought staff all the way from their HR, their CEO down to the front cashier person attended this staff training,” Wallace said. “Just to increase the awareness and decrease the stigma of mental health.”
While organizations like Goodwill and food pantries don't directly provide healthcare, Wallace says that their roles put them in frequent contact with at-risk individuals who may struggle with mental health.
The Walmart example Wallace shared is relatively low-risk, but as she acknowledges, mental health-related emergencies can be a dangerous situation.
“The training itself is broken down into ‘non-crisis’ and ‘crisis,’” Wallace said. “And crisis intervention always starts with calling emergency personnel first and then aiding until they can come.”
At the end of the training sessions, Wallace says the health department provides participants with a list of local and regional mental health resources. A glance through the list shows many organizations based across county lines, including large providers like Carle Health.
However, by offering mental health first aid classes to the community, Wallace says the department is building a local resource.
The biggest role a resident can play, she says, is just increasing their own mental health awareness.
