A local nonprofit teaches adults to provide mental health first aid for teens.

INJURIES HAPPEN EVERY DAY, YET DOCTORS CANNOT BE EVERYWHERE. Instead, we have grown accustomed to learning techniques that can help people experiencing a medical emergency until professionals arrive. This is the concept behind first aid training – the idea that anyone can provide simple, life-preserving care as a first line of defense.

But what happens when someone is facing not a physical health crisis, but a mental health crisis? This is the inspiration behind mental health first aid training, and where AIM Youth Mental Health comes in. Founded in 2014, the nonprofit invests in mental health research, and also has a vision of empowering adults to be able to recognize mental health challenges in youth and assess what the next steps should be. Last January, AIM also launched training to provide youth mental health first aid.

The first aid course is primarily geared toward teachers, counselors and parents who may be a trusted adult in the life of a teen or preteen. (So far, about 500 people have graduated from the seven-hour course.)

AIM teaches its adult students how to get on a child’s level and listen to their issues, then provide advice afterward or point them in the right direction toward professional help.

“It’s like first aid training,” says Linda Fosler, a volunteer teacher for AIM. “We aren’t licensed to diagnose, but we [all] can be trained to recognize symptoms, and have a process to follow.”

The data suggests that programs like AIM’s are needed. Anxiety and depression rank as top concerns for teens, and the isolation and stress of the pandemic did not help. A 2021 survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that many high school-aged students struggle with their mental health. Thirty-seven percent of students surveyed said their mental health was not good most of the time or always during the Covid-19 pandemic. That percentage is higher (64 percent) for students who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual.

As society becomes more accepting of mental health challenges, resources and openness to talking about those resources is increasingly available. But children may not have the language to describe what they are going through.

AIM focuses on a five-step action plan using the acronym ALGEE:

Assess for risk of suicide or harm

Listen non-judgmentally

Give reassurance and information

Encourage appropriate professional help

Encourage self-help and other support strategies.

“It’s a practical course, you learn how to calm the individual before help arrives,” Fosler says. “It’s also filled with tools, techniques and practices.”

The goal for a mental health first aid graduate isn’t to be able solve a teen’s mental health problem yourself, but to get them to the next step.

Fosler says noticing a child’s anxiety or depression isn’t always black and white. She gives the example of a child who regularly shows off social media posts and often talks about their friends at school. If that child suddenly stops mentioning these things to you, that change in behavior could be seen as an early indication of a problem.

“Recently, we had a teacher with a third-grade student who was very depressed,” Fosler says. “The student was becoming more isolated and straying away from friends. Through the program, the teacher learned how to approach the student. It turns out there were more serious problems going on at home, and the family got into therapy.”

AIM’s CEO Lori Butterworth says her goal is to see community changes in the way we handle mental health. In the future, she would love to train baristas or hairdressers – people who may find themselves as a trusted, listening adult hearing about a client’s mental health crisis.

“We know the number-one protective factor for mental health in youth is a trusted adult. It’s not their friends,” Butterworth says. “I truly believe if we had the critical mass of adults with this training in our county, we could transform the entire community.”

Butterworth says mental health would also translate to better academic performance and better relationships with parents and teachers.

Nikki Guichet, a curriculum coordinator for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Monterey County, attended her second AIM training in early January. She says the biggest takeaway from the course was learning the right language to use in a delicate situation.

“I really value this training because it gives you the words to be comfortable speaking with youth,” Guichet says. “As a counselor, you never want to say the wrong thing. This course helps with confidence, and supports ideas you may have already had.”

The course also covers some heavy topics, like suicidal ideation and self-harm. “It’s not lighthearted content,” Guichet says. “If someone is having a challenge, you have to be able to talk to them about it, not avoid it.”

The course includes role-playing, giving participants guidance on the language to use in a tough conversation. “I’m not a therapist,” Guichet says, “but, having someone saying, ‘No, you aren’t a therapist, but you’re a supportive adult in some child’s life’ really means a lot.”

For Fosler, seeing that confidence among graduates of the mental health first aid training is the most rewarding part of teaching.

“I want them to have better tools in dealing with mental health challenges, from depression or mild bouts of anxiety, to more serious challenges like suicide,” she says. “I want them to feel like they have tools to use, until professional help arrives.”

To learn more about AIM Youth Mental Health or sign up for first aid training, visit aimymh.org or call 372-1600; $170/training; scholarships available. If you or someone you know needs immediate mental health support, call the Monterey County Behavioral Health Crisis Team at 888-258-6029 or the Mobile Response Team for children and youth ages 21 and under at 687-4379. The national Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is 988.