Head First
Best Health|June-July 2019

We think of first aid for boo-boos and broken bones, but never brains. That’s all changing, and writer Bonnie Schiedel took the course to prove it. Here’s her account of a crash course in mental wellness.

Bonnie Schiedel
Head First
LIKE MANY THINGS THESE DAYS, IT BEGAN ON my social media feed: a colleague posting a heartfelt account of her postpartum depression, a neighbour mentioning an ill-timed anxiety attack, a friend talking about her daughter’s schizophrenia symptoms. It’s pretty incredible – and encouraging – to see how we’re all getting a little more comfortable talking about our own mental health.

After all, one in five Canadians will experience a mental health problem in any given year, according to the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA). Still, for a lot of us, it’s easier to offer support when it’s one step removed online rather than face to face. I really had no idea what I would say or do if someone I was with had, say, an anxiety attack or was really struggling with post-holiday depression. I wondered if I’d freeze up or say the wrong thing.

I didn’t like feeling clueless, so when I saw a Facebook post about a mental health first-aid course being offered in my city, I thought, Hell, yes! I signed up and, a few weeks later, headed to a hotel conference room with 22 other people to learn how to become a mental health first aider during a two-day, 12-hour course.

Mental health first-aid programs have been around since 2000, when an Australian couple – Betty Kitchener, a nurse who has coped with depression throughout her life, and Anthony Jorm, a psychology professor and researcher – were out walking their dog together and had a light bulb moment to create a course. A lot of other people thought it was a good idea, too: About two million people worldwide have now taken the course they developed. (Lady Gaga even offered free or subsidized training in cities on her last tour.)

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June-July 2019 من Best Health.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June-July 2019 من Best Health.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.