Prevention Insights offers free mental health and suicide prevention training

Indiana continues to lag behind other states when it comes to mental health services. To address this problem, Indiana University’s Prevention Insights is offering free mental health and suicide prevention training in 13 Indiana counties. The trainings are available thanks to a two-year grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Cris Henderson“The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the mental health of children and adults, including increasing feelings of anxiety or depression,” said Cris Henderson, evaluation specialist and research associate at Prevention Insights at the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington. “This funding opportunity enables Prevention Insights to meaningfully support our Indiana communities by providing high-quality training programs for free to people working in multiple fields such as education, harm reduction, criminal justice, mental health and substance-use-disorder treatment.”

Prevention Insights will offer two programs — Mental Health First Aid training and the Question Persuade Refer suicide prevention training — to people who live or work in Allen, Boone, Carroll, Clinton, Fayette, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Morgan, Owen, Scott, Tippecanoe and White counties. Two virtual options are available in June: Adult Mental Health First Aid from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 28 and Question Persuade Refer from 10 a.m. to noon June 16. Registration is available on the Mental Health Awareness Training project page.

The Mental Health First Aid training will teach participants how to help someone experiencing a mental health concern and how to appropriately approach a crisis until professional help can arrive. The course, which will take up to 30 participants, is approximately two hours of independent, online pre-work and eight hours of live online training.

The two-hour virtual Question Persuade Refer course, which will take up to 35 participants, teaches individuals to recognize the warning signs of suicide and what to do in a crisis.

Community members are allowed to enroll in both courses. In addition to the June events, they can schedule additional virtual or in-person trainings.

Heather Todd, project director, said the courses provide the resources necessary for people from all walks of life to actively engage in addressing a health issue that affects all Hoosiers.

“There is no doubt the state and the nation have seen a serious decline in the population’s mental health in the past few years,” Todd said. “We hope these trainings will provide individuals with valuable knowledge and the skills to empower themselves in their daily lives to help others who are in need.”

For more information or to schedule a training for your group, contact Todd at MHAT@indiana.edu.