Transcript Mental Health First Aid - Parent

Presented by Melanie Ginsberg, M.Ed.
Director of Education, MHANC
[email protected]
www.mhanc.org
Goals
 Provide an overview of mental health challenges
 Discuss signs and how to recognize the need for care
 How to assume a helpful role from a culturally competent
perspective
 Introduce strategies to assist or seek appropriate help
 Provide resources
Outline of Presentation
 My background
 Main presentation
 Questions and Answers
My Background
• School Psychologist
• Family Support
Provider & Advocate
• Director of Education
• Community Educator
Empowerment Skills for
Family Workers
What is a mental disorder?
A mental disorder or mental illness is a diagnosable
illness that:
 Affects a person’s thinking, emotional state, and
behavior
 Disrupts the person’s ability to
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Work
Carry out daily activities
Engage in satisfying relationships
*Mental Health First Aid
What are common
mental health challenges?
 There are more than 200 classified terms for mental
illness.
 Some more common are:
 Depression
 Bipolar
 Anxiety Disorder
 Depression
 Schizophrenia
Symptoms include: changes in mood, personality,
personal habits and/ or social withdrawal
Prevalence:
US adults with a mental disorder in
any one year
Types of Mental Disorder
% Adults
Anxiety
19.1
Major depressive disorder
6.8
Substance use disorder
8.0
Bipolar disorder
2.8
Eating disorder
2.1
Schizophrenia
0.45
Any mental disorder
19.6
Warning Signs and Symptoms
In adults
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Confused thinking
Prolonged depression (sadness or irritability)
Feelings of extreme highs and lows
Excessive fears and worries
Social withdrawal
Dramatic changes in eating or sleeping
Strong feelings of anger
Delusions or hallucinations
Growing inability to cope with daily problems and activities
Suicidal thoughts
Denial of obvious proplems
Numerous unexplained physical ailments
Substance abuse
In older children and PreAdolescents
 Substance abuse
 Inability to cope with problems and daily activities
 Changes in sleeping and/or eating habits
 Excessive complaints of physical ailments
 Defiance of authority, truancy, theft, and/or vandalism
 Intense fear of weight gain
 Prolonged negative mood, often accompanied by poor
appetite or thoughts of death
 Frequent outbursts of anger
In younger children
 Changes in school performance
 Poor grades despite strong efforts
 Excessive worry or anxiety
 Hyperactivity
 Persistent nightmares
 Persistent disobedience or aggression
 Frequent temper tantrums
Barriers to individuals seeking help
 Stigma
 Professional help not always easily available
 Individual with mental health problems don’t often
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seek help
Many people are not well informed about mental
health problems
Do not know how to respond
Financial
cultural
Barriers to a culturally competent society
Major Types
Examples , from ESFW
Discomfort with Differences
Fear that you or your own family or group
will not get enough of what you want
More stringent limitations on immigration
to deter those coming to the US from getting
jobs as easily in the past
Blindness to Privilege
Advantages given to some cultural groups or
individuals because they belong to a certain
group
A woman in the US earns on average 72.2
cents to each dollar earned by a man.
Prejudice
Forming a set of beliefs about a group of
people based on hearsay, misinformation,
emotions, or using one’s own group as a
point of reference
Homophobia: slurs or taunts used against
children or adults who don’t fit gender role
stereotypes.
Discrimination
When a person or institution uses power to
act on their prejudice.
A landlord refusing to rent to lesbians due to
misinformation or personal bias.
Oppression
Systematic discrimination against certain
groups.
Commonly believed misinformation about
differently-abled people diminishes their
natural abilities to make decisions and set
goals.
Heterosexism: the assumption that everyone
is heterosexual – or should be
What can we do
Reset our mindset
Change our perspective
Change lies in how we:
 Perceive
 Are we listening and being culturally open and
intentional?
 Receive
 Are we inviting, open, non-judgmental?
 Engage
 Is there a power -over or power-with relationship?
 Transform
 Who is setting the goals?
The lesson of the Butterfly
Strategies to Assist
from MHFA, National Council
 Assess for suicide or harm
 Listen nonjudgmentally
 Give reassurance and information
 Encourage appropriate professional help
 Encourage self help
Trauma Informed Care
(best standard)
You can help by encouraging another to:
 Tell others what they need
 Identify sources of support
 Take care of self
 Seek professional help if needed and offer to help
connect.
Encourage Appropriate
Professional Help
Types of professionals:
 Doctors, primary care (good place to start)
 Psychiatrist and other mental health professionals
 Drug and alcohol specialists
 Certified peer specialists
Types of professional help:
 Talk therapy
 Brief intervention therapy
 Withdrawal management
 Medication
Encourage Self Help
Types of self help:
 Support groups
 Family, friends
 Faith network
 Peer
 Family support groups
 Discontinuation of alcohol or other drugs
 Exercise
 Books
 Meditation
What if a person does not want
your help?
Helpful strategies:
 Encourage the person to talk to someone they trust
 Never threaten with hospitalization
 Remain patient
 Remain friendly and open
That person may want your help in the future.
References
 Mental Health First Aid, USA Eight Hour Teaching
Notes, 2013 Mental Health Association of Maryland,
Missouri Department of Mental Health, and National
Council for Behavioral Health.
 Empowerment Skills for Family Workers, The
Comprehensive Curriculum of the National Family
Development Credential Program, A Worker
Handbook, by Carol West. Family Development Press.
2015