Photo By Master Sgt. Tamara Dabney | Carissa Peckrul, a Health360, Inc. Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) instructor, teaches...... read more read more
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“If you can remember, if it’s not too painful to think about, your darkest, most difficult days…how did you pull through?”
Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Kaleth O. Wright raised this question during a podcast discussion in November 2019. By the end of that year, 137 members of the U.S. Air Force had died by suicide. The toll represented a 33 percent increase in suicides over the previous year and a growing mental health crisis in the Air Force.
Members of the Air Force, across the active duty, Guard and Reserve, have been tasked with developing initiatives to support mental fitness and increase resilience. The Connecticut Air National Guard recently hosted a Mental Health First Aid Certification Course in coordination with the Healthy Minds Alliance of Health360, Inc. Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is a public education program that teaches participants how to recognize and respond to mental health crises.
“The training focuses on anxiety, depression, psychosis and substance use,” said Senior Master Sgt. Jennifer Gonzalez-Smith, 103rd Airlift Wing Human Resource Advisor and Sexual Assault Victim Advocate. “It provides people with a tool to help in a mental health emergency.”
Knowing how to immediately assist someone who is experiencing a mental breakdown could prevent that person from doing harm to themselves or others. Just as the American Heart Association trains people to perform life-saving CPR for cardiac emergencies, the Connecticut Air National Guard aims to equip Airmen with potentially life-saving MHFA skills.
“We like to think of it as CPR for your brain,” said Gonzalez-Smith.
A diverse group of Airmen with various backgrounds and levels of experience took part in the training. Lt. Col. Eric Wismar, a training participant who serves as a Chaplain for the Connecticut National Guard Joint Force Headquarters and the 103rd Airlift Wing, has provided counseling services to military members for more than 17 years. He said that earning an MHFA certification enhanced his job skills and could help Air Force leaders in other fields be more comfortable when confronted with mental health crises.
“This was outstanding training,” said Wismar. “Some things, for us healthcare providers, were a refresher, but many things were new to me. I think it’s good, because it gives leaders and those who were in attendance the tools to identify different mental illnesses or substance abuse possibilities. If a person has them [mental health issues], you learn how to approach them and how to feel comfortable in terms of assessing the situation and thinking about what the next step might be.”
Numerous studies have suggested that the stigma associated with mental illness could act as a major barrier that prevents some military members from utilizing mental health services. Gonzalez-Smith thinks that educating Airmen about mental illness through MHFA training could help reduce stigma.
“I think anytime you can decrease the stigma of mental health, it’s a good opportunity, so I thought it would be a good opportunity for the Connecticut Air National Guard to learn some new skills that all Airmen could use,” said Gonzalez-Smith.
The ultimate goal of Air Force mental health initiatives is to promote resilience among Airmen, which supports readiness and a more lethal force. Equipping Airmen with the skills to help one another get through their most difficult times is one step that the Connecticut Air National Guard is taking to achieve this goal.
| Date Taken: | 03.04.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 03.04.2020 07:26 |
| Story ID: | 364437 |
| Location: | EAST GRANBY, CT, US |
| Web Views: | 40 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Connecticut Airmen learn MHFA, support resilience, by MSgt Tamara Dabney, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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