Mental health first aid prepares first responders for complex situations

WASILLA - Thanks to a growing awareness of things like substance abuse, anxiety and depression as mental health issues, public servants are getting training to better protect and serve the people of the Mat-Su Valley.

Last week, retired Anchorage Police Department (APD) officer Wendi Shackelford and University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) Behavioral Health Training Coordinator Jill Ramsey led a couple dozen state troopers, court system staff, Mat-Su Health Services employees and emergency services personnel through two different eight-hour sessions of mental health first aid to increase understanding of how to respond to a person in crisis.

Ramsey said that the state's limited resources in terms of health care is reason enough to warrant the training.

"It becomes important for us to be able to be individually equipped in the moment - what do you do in the moment of crisis with someone who has a mental health issue? Not who do you call, necessarily, but what do you do yourself?" she said at the beginning of the Wednesday class.

At the start of the course, students set goals like, learn how to lower their frustration in dealing with people with poor mental health and how to manage their own mental health when affected by negative situations.

Lt. Derek DeGraff, who has been with the state troopers for 14 years, said he was glad the course touched on that kind of self care necessitated by a job in which employees witness violent crime.

"We bring this stuff home with us," he said. "As tough as we think we are, if we're burnt out, our interactions on the street change."

Ramsey and Shackelford addressed all the above and more using the 136-page Mental Health First Aid USA handbook, walking students through the nature of mental disorders, how common they are, what kind of behaviors disorders produce and are associated with, and the importance of early intervention.

The teachers went into as much detail as to challenge the class participants to be cognizant of the language they use around people that may have mental disorders, and careful to avoid terms that might be offensive to a particularly vulnerable population.

"Language conveys whether we have respect, whether we have hope, whether we know something about brain disorders or don't," Ramsey said.

And when you work with people, communication is key, Shackleford said.

"Ninety percent of the things that we do as first responders is communicate with people. Giving them direction and trying to get them to comply with what we know we need to do, whether you're in the courts or judicial services or on the phone with someone.

"I think anything that we can do, that we have control over, increases our safety, and it also increases the ability to connect the folks that we serve - they're gonna be coming back into community, and they're gonna remember everything that you said and did," she said.

But all too often, people - not just those in authority - neglect to say or do anything.

"People are by and large just afraid to do the wrong thing, to be on the hook for a wrong outcome," Ramsey said.

Shackelford said she was, in some ways, that kind of person early on in career, not having learned much in the police academy about mental health.

"I had to muddle through, struggle through, screw it up and know that I should be doing something better," she said.

With 20 years behind her now, though, she's learned a thing or two, and with the eight-hour course complete, many other public servants said they had as well.

"I definitely feel more confident in recognizing mental health issues, helping people and realizing what to do in crisis," said Palmer Court Deputy Clerk Natalie Monroe after the conclusion of the course.

Likewise, Alaska State Troopers Office Assistant Brianna Cassens said she was "really happy" that she had the opportunity to undergo the training, not having previously understood substance abuse disorders as such.

The training would not have been possible without

To learn more about Mental Health First Aid training, contact Jill Ramsey at 907-264-6228 or jill@alaskachd.org, or Wendi Shackelford at 907-264-6224 or wendis@alaskchd.org.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.