CLIFTON FD ADVOCATES FOR MENTAL HEALTH AID IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

CLIFTON -- Clifton'sFire Department took part in advocating for Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) in Washington, D.C. last month.

Clifton's deputy fire chief, Michael Allora along with representatives from around the country appeared at Capitol Hill on May 24 to speak in favor of MHFA.

This is the second year the National Council for Behavioral Health (NCBH) has brought representatives to Capitol Hill to speak about how the aid has impacted those in their lives and communities and advocate for greater outreach of the program.

NCBH is a non-profit which is comprised of 2,500 mental health and addiction treatment groups to create better "integrated" and "comprehensive" healthcare.

Allora was invited to the event to speak before congressional staff along with a mental health coordinator from Iowa, a corrections officer from Pennsylvania, and an army veteran who shared personal stories of their experiences helping those in the workplace.

Allora shared a story of a man he encountered who was facing a crisis and threatening suicide. He said the police officers on site had not been trained to handle mental health crises, but Allora was.

"So I intervened... In almost an hour, he willingly agreed to go to the hospital for treatment," said Allora. "No struggle, no handcuffs, no injuries. Most importantly, no stigma."

According to a background brief provided by NCBH, Allora is also the first member of a New Jersey fire department to complete 40-hour Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training, considered a "good complement" to MHFA training, according to NCBH. He is scheduled to become an instructor of MHFA in July. In addition to being a 20-year employee of Clifton's fire department, Allora also serves on the Behavioral Health Advisory Board at St. Mary's Hospital in Passaic and is a part of Clifton'sStigma-Free Task Force.

The aim of the visit was not only to share their stories, but to support the MHFA Act to further extend MHFA training across the country.

Currently, $15 million in grants have been approved for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA) budget for fiscal year 2015 to fund mental health education. This is the third year in a row the funding has been approved.

The advocates for MHFA are seeking to raise the grant amount to $20 million.

"Just like CPR is mandatory in many settings, I absolutely believe that [MHFA] should be required for our boots-on-the-ground community leaders like teachers and law enforcement officials to be able to recognize mental illness and substance abuse," said Tousha Paxton-Barnes, an armed forces veteran who also spoke at the event.

MHFA consists of an eight-hour course hallmarked by a five-step "action plan" to help those in crisis connected with needed supports to receive care. In addition, trainees learn about risk factors and warning signs shown by individuals near crisis, as well as the importance of early intervention.

Allora said first responders are seeing and rise in mental and behavioral health calls. The City of Clifton recently trained 125 members of the fire department and several departments in City Hall in MHFA, according to Allora and a press release on the NCBH event.

He said the feedback from the trainees has been "overwhelmingly positive" and firefighters have begun to talk about how the training was beneficial for them personally.

"There is growing research that indicates we may lose more firefighters and first responders to suicide than to line of duty deaths," said Allora in his speech.

Currently, the MHFA course is taught by police officers, firefighters, corrections officers and first responders around the country. More than 500,000 first responders, educators and more have been trained in MHFA since 2008, according to the MHFA website managed by NCBH.

Anyone who is feeling suicidal may receive immediate help 24-hours, seven days a week, by calling the New Jersey Hopeline at 855-NJHOPELINE (654-6735) or the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-TALK (8255).

Suicide is preventable, and immediate help is available.

Email: katz@northjersey.com