20-05-2025
Free training on 'Mental Health First Aid' coming to Palm Beach County
May is Mental Health Awareness Month and a good time to talk about how we can better equip ourselves to help when a friend, loved one, co-worker, stranger or child appears to need support. We can learn how to be effective "first responders" with the help of what's called "Mental Health First Aid."
The training is being offered for free by the Fred & Gladys Alpert Jewish Family Service of Palm Beach County.
'Mental Health First Aid is an early intervention public education program that teaches adults how to recognize the signs and symptoms that suggest a potential mental health challenge may be in its earliest stages,' explains Courtney Marx, director of the program.
Those who attend the program's two sessions, which are held on back-to-back days and last around three hours, will learn how to listen nonjudgmentally and give reassurance to a person who may be experiencing a mental health challenge, Marx said. They'll also be taught how to refer a person to appropriate professional support and services.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, also known as NAMI, 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. experience mental illness annually, and 1 in 6 youths (ages 6 to 17) in this country experience a mental health disorder each year.
Alpert Jewish Family Service devised separate programs that address how to handle a mental issue in both an adult and in a child.
These sessions — the next two of which are Wednesday and Thursday, May 21-22, at 9 a.m. at Alpert Jewish Family Service offices in West Palm Beach — focus on recognizing the patterns of thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and demeanor that indicate there might be a mental health challenge in the offing.
Because so many adults with mental health challenges often attempt to self-medicate and thus develop alcohol and/or other substance abuse conditions, attendees will be taught how to handle these situations. They'll also be taught how to implement an action plan that they can apply to both crisis and non-crisis situations.
The action plan goes by the acronym ALGEE, which stands for the following:
A: Assess for risk of suicide or self-harm. (According to U.S. Centers for Disease Control, more than 50,000 Americans died by suicide in 2023 — the highest number ever in the U.S.)
L: Listen non-judgmentally.
G: Give reassurance and more information about how to receive help.
E: Encourage the person to seek out and receive professional help.
E: Encourage self-help and other support strategies.
In today's digital age in which teenage suicide and depression are on the rise, it's more important than ever to be able to help a young person in crisis.
Archives of General Psychiatry reports that '50% of all mental illnesses begin by age 14, and 75% by a person's early to mid-20s."
Those who learn youth mental health first aid aren't asked to diagnose or fix the problem. Instead, those who attend the training (the next sessions will be on June 11-12 at 9 a.m.) learn how to recognize the common signs and symptoms of mental health challenges in adolescents and teens, including how they're often affected by anxiety, depression, eating disorders, attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), trauma, and the impact of social media and bullying. They also learn how to connect people with help.
If you're concerned about someone's mental health, Marx recommended the following conversation starters that might help the person know that they're not alone:
'Are you okay?': You should ask the question and really mean it. Marx said that you can show you're truly concerned by sitting alongside the person, keeping an open body position and maintaining comfortable eye contact.
'Are you thinking about suicide?': If you are concerned that someone is considering suicide, Marx said you should ask the question directly. She said that if someone has been considering taking their own life or making a plan to do so, asking the question directly will not increase the risk that they'll actually complete the suicide.
'I've noticed that ...': Start with an open-ended statement about some behavior that has changed in the person. For example, 'I've noticed that you've been showing up late to work recently.' Then express genuine concern about what is going on in the person's life.
'Hey, do you want to take a walk?': Marx said that engaging someone you're concerned about in a healthy activity like walking can be an effective way to start a conversation about mental health. This physical activity can help decrease the potential nerves, discomfort and awkwardness that sometimes happen when broaching the topic of mental health.
The bottom line, says Marx, is that it's good to be prepared to help those in your orbit if they're facing a mental health issue.
'Just as you take CPR training in case a medical emergency requires immediate action, taking mental health first aid training means you can really help a person who needs it — and it just may save their life,' says Marx.
If You Go
What: Free mental health first aid training
When: 9 a.m. Wednesday, May 21 and Thursday, May 22
Where: Alpert Jewish Family Service of Palm Beach County, 5841 Corporate Way, Room 104, West Palm Beach
Info: Registration for the program is required. Call 561-713-1851 or visit
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Mental health first aid can help you help friends and family in crisis
