Mental Health First Aid.

Since emerging as one of the top priorities in Engaging Richmond’s community needs assessment, mental health has been a focus of the ER team’s ongoing work.

Recently, ER team member Chimere Miles (pictured above, third from right) became certified in mental health first aid training and has been training many East End residents and service providers, particularly those working in community organizations that reach out to community members. The interactive training she delivers allows non-clinical community members to develop skills to de-escalate crises and to recognize symptoms of mental health disorders.

Mental health first aid is designed to improve participants’ knowledge and modify their attitudes and perceptions about mental health and related issues including how to respond to individuals who are experiencing mental health crises (e.g., suicidal thoughts and/or behavior, acute stress reaction, panic attacks, and/or acute psychotic behavior) and/or are in the early stages of one or more chronic mental health problems (i.e., depressive, anxiety, and/or psychotic disorders, which may occur with substance abuse) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Among those whom Chimere has trained in mental health first aid are Richmond City school security officers who are often first responders when youth engage in violent behavior while in school and are often the first people students see when entering the school building in the morning. She also trained staff at the Peter Paul Development Center, a community center in Richmond’s East End that delivers youth and community support programs. She reported that she is seeing the stigma of reaching out for mental health services being “chipped away” in the community.

Serving as a mental health first aid trainer has empowered Chimere and enabled her to move ER’s research to action in the community. We applaud this and Chimere’s many other contributions to ER.