Mental Health First Aid: News & Updates

By the Numbers

• 6,000+ members of the general public complete the 12-hour course to be certified as Mental Health First Aiders.
• 700+ instructors trained and certified to deliver the 12-hour Mental Health First Aid course to the public.
• 1,000,000+ media impressions as Mental Health First Aid increasingly becomes as popular as First Aid and CPR.

Mental Health First Aid USA is making a difference in communities across the country, here are a few examples of the program's impact.

• Free Mental Health First Aid training offered for those working to respond to mental heath needs in the wake of the Haiti earthquake.

• Mental Health First Aid USA was a finalist in the Ashoka Changemakers and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s international competition, Rethinking Mental Health: Improving Community Wellbeing.  
• More than 6,000 persons across the country have been trained in Mental Health First Aid since the program's launch in the USA — read all about our first year in National Council Magazine.
• In Rhode Island, Gateway Healthcare has instituted Mental Health First Aid as part of the training for new recruits at the Rhode Island Police Academy. Read about the impact of this program in the Providence Journal and in Mental Health Weekly.  

• In Iowa, the Vera French Community Mental Health Center trained first responders in Mental Health First Aid. View the news segment from WQAD TV, featuring interviews with law enforcement officials who took the course.  
• Mental Health First Aid Australia highlights program development in 14 countries around the world in the first Mental Health First Aid International newsletter.