UIC community trains to give mental health first aid

One of the earliest programs to begin after a January 2023 announcement of funding for more student mental health resources at UIC was for mental health first aid instruction.  

Much like being certified in CPR allows someone to help in an emergency until professionals arrive, people certified in mental health first aid can recognize and assist others undergoing emotional distress until they can reach a resource or professional. 

Since 2023, UIC’s Wellness Center has trained nearly 500 staff, faculty and students in mental health first aid. This training is completed in a one-day course and is open to everyone.  

“I’ve sat in many meetings where I’ve heard faculty, staff and students say that they want to help other folks who are having emotional health challenges, but they also say that they don’t know how to help,” said Carol Petersen, senior director for UIC health, education and wellness. “When staff, students and faculty recognize that they have a knowledge gap, this training steps in, and it helps to change that knowledge gap.”

The training teaches students, faculty and staff how to recognize someone having a mental health or substance use challenge, and how to listen, recognize signs, not judge and use appropriate language, while also making sure professional help or community resources are provided. 

In the class, people are taught to respond using the ALGEE framework:  

• A: Assess the situation of someone having a mental health crisis 
• L: Listen without judgement
• G: Give reassurance and information 
• E: Encourage professional help 
• E: Encourage self-help 

“It’s not a linear framework where you have to do it in a linear fashion. That’s one big takeaway for anybody who’s doing the course,” said Suchitra Sarda, a mental health first aid trainer. “I think anybody who has learned this course benefits themselves and can help others doing the course. They get a better idea of the impact of mental health and substance use challenges on the well-being of Americans, of students on campus, and they can also then explain better the recovery process from such a challenge.” 

Trainers said people certified through the course have reported that they’ve used their training on campus.

“I had one student in particular who told me that they came across a distressed student,” said Christina Paredes, a program services specialist at the Wellness Center. “And they said that this training really helped them to be able to sit there with that student and support them in the moment and give them the help that they needed.”

The classes are free for students, staff and faculty and available from the Wellness Center throughout the year, both in person and virtually.

Raphael Florestal-Kevelier, associate vice chancellor for student health and wellbeing, said resident assistants, staff in Campus Housing and faculty who expressed interest in the course were among the first trained. He added that some colleges, like the College of Applied Health Sciences, have taken an extra step and trained staff to be mental health first aid trainers in order to offer the training courses in the college itself. 

“They’re creating this community of trained individuals within their school who are thinking about how to take it beyond the training,” Florestal-Kevelier said. “They’re thinking, ‘How do we really create an environment of support for students?’”