14 june 2016
i spent most of my day in a mental health first aid course. it was a free class, run by the health and counseling services at the university where i work, and i opted to take it because i was curious about what the course would cover and i think the topic material is really important. also, i like collecting certifications.
one of the things i appreciate most about first aid courses is that they focus on what you can do as just another person; you don't havae to be a medical professional to recognize signs of distress, and you don't have to be a trained care provider to express empathy and kindness. these are things i think about a lot, but from watching other people in these courses, they're lessons that are important for a lot of people to hear.
some of the details were kind of hand-wavy, mostly due to scope limitations, but because of the sort of people in the class today, a lot of really specific questions came up that were hard to address. health is hard. mental health is hard. humans are tricky.
if there's a class in your area that you have access to, i highly recommend it! the one i took included a lot of information about local resources for getting help, including advice and reassurance on who to call if you're worried about someone else but don't know what appropriate action might be, which i hope is a part of every local training.
i only got about four hours of sleep because the class started way earlier than i've been getting out lately, so i'm kind of a total zombie.
i feel okay. i hope you all are okay, and have ways to take care of yourseves.