Our community has been devastated by the tragic impact of suicide among our youth. While heartbreaking, the loss of life has led to collaboration all across the city to work to prevent teen suicide and destigmatize mental health.
EFL is actively involved in the El Paso County Youth Suicide Prevention Workgroup, and our director serves on the steering committee as well. This workgroup is a collaborative group, from key stakeholders all across the city including school admin, researchers, police officers, parents and various organizations.
EFL recognizes the key role faith leaders play in destigmatizing mental health and preventing the tragedy of suicide. These leaders who partner with community agencies and efforts are important sources of hope and strength for their congregants, counsel for those before and during a crisis, as well as a comfort and support in the aftermath of a suicide attempt or death.
We believe Youth Mental Health First Aid will equip educators and faith communities with a better understanding of how to help the students who attend your schools or organizations, as well as provide them with a common language that is used among mental health professionals.
Youth Mental Health First Aid [YMHFA] training is a wide-spread, well-respected, evidence-based program that teaches you how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders. This 8-hour training gives adults the skills they need to reach out and provide initial support to adolescents (ages 12-18), de-escalate crisis situations safely, and initiate timely referrals to mental health and substance use disorders resources available in the community.
Course participants receive a copy of the Youth MHFA Manual to keep, a certificate of completion and become an accredited mental health first aider for 3 years.
Two of the EFL staff are certified YMHFA trainers and are able to come and train people in your school, organization or faith community. For more details, and to find out the cost of hosting this training, send us an email!
We also offer various open training dates, which are open to individuals and smaller groups of people who are interested in getting trained. Each training has 30 spots, and we would love for you to attend*.