Teen Mental Health First Aid
Mental health challenges are very common in adolescents and young people often turn to each other when upset, stressed or when they are going through a difficult time. Most adolescents will try to help their friends, sometimes taking on too much of the responsibility. teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA) teaches them they don’t have to take these problems on alone.
teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA) is an evidence-based program developed in Australia in 2015 by Dr. Laura Hart at the University of Melbourne and Dr. Claire Kelly at Mental Health First Aid Australia. teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA) is a training that teaches teens in grades 10-12, or ages 15-18, how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental health and substance use challenges in their friends and peers. The training gives teens the skills they need to have supportive conversations with their friends and emphasizes the importance of getting help from a responsible and trusted adult.
The course is being taught by certified school staff and certified staff from the local Intermediate Unit (IU 28). All instructors teaching the course have received special training and are certified to teach the course by Mental Health First Aid USA®, a division of the National Council for Mental Wellbeing.
The course consists of 6 40-minute in-person lessons delivered to all 10th grade students through our Health and P.E. Department and occur once a week until all 6 lessons have been taught.
The desired outcomes of this training is to empower our students to recognize early warning signs that a friend is struggling with mental health or substance use, describe how to talk to a friend about mental health and how to get a responsible adult involved.
Teens who complete the training will receive an Industry-based credential for graduation and their resume and receive a manual that they can take home after the last session.
To learn more about the teen Mental Health First Aid Program, please log on to: