First Aid Is More Than A Broken Leg

Over the last two days I have completed a Youth Mental Health First Aid Course facilitated by Mental Health First Aid Australia. This is something I had heard about several years ago but the stars never aligned for me to complete a course. I was grateful to finally get the opportunity to attend. 

The other participants actually ended up getting COVID or being sent into isolation, so I ended up being the only one! This meant for a great 1:1 experience, but I also felt that I missed out on conversations with others a little. One thing I like about attending PD is to be able to compare stories and experiences with others. There was lots of scenario based learning across the two days though, which helped to solidify the learning a little.

This specific course was designed for youth because the median age for depression is 25, the median age for anxiety is 15, in 2020 480 Australians under the age of 24 died by suicide and 1 in 4 people experience a common mental health illness in one year. These stats really surprised me and were quite confronting. This really reinforced the importance of quality mental health education in schools (as well as the importance for as many adults as possible to be mental health first aid accredited). Check out some of my previous posts related to mental health here. Just like physical first aid, mental first aid should help people to have preventative strategies, rather than an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. 

Beverley introduced me to the mental health continuum below. She encouraged me to consider these questions while observing young people; 
- To what level has someone moved towards 'illness'? How long have they been at this point of the continuum and how quickly did they get there?
- Are they bouncing back to 'health', staying where they are or moving closer to 'illness'? 
- Does the place on the continuum change at school, home and/or hobbies, or remain much the same?
These questions can help to gauge a students 'wellness', but also help to form a conversation with them and/or their caregivers. It is also very important to note that mental health is not the same as mental illness.

One thing that stuck with me, which shouldn't be surprising, was the comment "the more that we can support the brain in any illnesses they are presenting, the more likely they are able to learn". When we are having challenging mental days as adults, we generally aren't as productive, might not focus much or could have a shorter wick than usual (these are certainly my observations of myself). So of course if a student is feeling stressed, down, anxious or all of the above then they too may not be as productive as usual, may not be as focused or have a shorter wick. Teachers can see these as signs of disrespect or defiance, but really they may be signs that the student needs some support in that moment. Signs to look for and to ask the student about.

Here are several points that left me thinking a little further and for you to also ponder;
- Teachers should be modifying tasks like we would in a practical sense. We wouldn't ask someone with a broken leg to play a sport, so why would we ask someone with anxiety to 'keep on trying'?
- Empowerment is important for young people to make their own decisions about themselves. the feeling of powerlessness can significantly impact on mental health, so people need opportunities and tools to make decisions for themselves.
- "It is important that during the first response [to the person] we do it well, so that there is a positive result for them long term".
- Dendrites in the brain are responsible for neuro pathways and severe mental illnesses can impact on these pathways such as thickening them. Medication can help with repair of these dendrites, which can then help someone to have clearer thought processing and decision making. BUT medication is NOT the first answer for majority of people.
- We can recognise in student language, artwork, texts, interactions etc possible expressions or depictions which may indicate the student needs support.

Finally, the acronym ALGEE was referred to several times throughout the course. Like the WARM acronym for restorative conversations, ALGEE is a structure to create a conversation  and an action plan with someone as a mental health responder. To gain my accreditation, I had to demonstrate this structure through practice discussions in a range of scenarios. 

Even before completing this course I knew student mental health was just as important to understand and know how to respond to as physical health. Now, I feel even more so. It blows my mind that physical first aid courses are compulsory for all teachers in South Australia but mental health first aid is not - here's hoping that changes in coming years and that NZ mandates too!