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The Connect 4 Mental Health Community Innovation Awards recognize organizations introducing novel approaches to address mental health in early intervention, creative use of technology, continuity of care and service integration.  The National Council, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc. and Lundbeck recently announced the recipients of the 2015 … Read more

Restricting access to known “suicide hotspots,” such as bridges, tall buildings and cliffs, can help reduce deaths at those locations by more than 90 percent, according to the findings of an international study published Wednesday in The Lancet Psychiatry. 10/06/2015 Link to Source

Mayor Eric Garcetti, Australian Consulate officials and representatives from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing welcomed participants of the Black Dog Ride, which made 21 stops in 14 states to spread the word about Mental Health First Aid. Read more.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee turned its attention to mental health and addictions legislation this week, voting on and approving two bills and scheduling a hearing for a third later this month. These efforts are an encouraging sign of the progress being made on Capitol Hill and bring hope to advocates … Read more

The three-year grant will provide partial funding for training in mental health first aid and provide the services of a psychiatric clinician to be shared among the eight towns which report to the Concord District Court. 09/28/2015 Link to Source

It is with deep sorrow that Black Dog Ride informs the Black Dog Ride community that West Australian motorcycle riders Steve and Barbara Thomas, who were participating in the Black Dog Ride across America, were involved in a fatal accident on Friday, 25th September near Durango, Colorado.

It’s estimated that 350 million people around the world suffer from depression, an illness that claims more than 2500 Australian lives each year.

Municipal officials are continuing their efforts to make the city stigma free when it comes to mental illnesses by creating a Stigma Free taskforce. 09/24/2015 Link to Source

he group, which has completed five previous tours in Australia, is partnering with Mental Health First Aid USA to raise mental health awareness and funds to train more veterans and first responders in Mental Health First Aid.

Hilda Marie’s worst nightmare was unfolding right before her eyes. Teetering at the edge of the platform was a woman poised to jump in front of an oncoming train. What would you do?   09/23/2015 Link to Source

For Hilda, there was no question. She turned to the skills she learned in the eight-hour Mental Health First Aid class she completed. She contacted the station manager to secure help and calmly talked to reassure the woman until help arrived. Her actions saved a life that day.

Mental health first aid — as laid out in a program designed by an Australian psychologist and his wife, a nurse — gained a foothold in the United States in 2008 and has made big strides since. 09/21/2015 Link to Source

As we find ourselves in National Suicide Prevention Month, it’s hard not to take this loss with a special kind of sadness – and even harder to wrap our minds around the bigger picture. 09/20/2015 Link to Source

The Mental Health First Aid program, which the Black Dog Riders are riding to support, is a way to ensure that each of us can be on the front line with our neighbors, co-workers, and friends to recognize when people are struggling and get them the help they need.

The proceeds raised from this ride will go to Mental Health First Aid USA, providing scholarships for first responders and veterans to be trained in Mental Health First Aid, helping communities respond to mental health crises. Read more.

Black Dog Ride is partnering with Mental Health First Aid USA to raise awareness and funds for Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training scholarships for military veterans and first responders. Read more.

By: Becky Vaughn , Vice President of Addictions, National Council of Behavioral Health Strengthening the Specialty Addictions Sector   Addictions providers in the United States face an odd duality: we are simultaneously needed and threatened. Addictions are Expensive Public Health Problems Deaths by overdose have more than doubled in the past 15 years. There are now … Read more

…The goal of the Black Dog Ride is to raise $200,000 to bring Mental Health First Aid to first responders and military personnel. So far, Mental Health First Aid USA has trained more than 450,000 people, but there are many more who would benefit. Read more. Publication Date: Sept. 11, 2015; Source: Better Mental Health Magazine

A $30 million, city-sponsored experiment in training non-professionals to provide mental health help will focus on people who work with parents of small children, the unemployed poor and young people who aren’t in work or school, according to City Hall’s charity arm. 09/09/2015 Link to Source

The motorcyclists, who call themselves the Black Dog Ride, are partnering with Mental Health First Aid USA, a program that teaches people how to identify common mental health problems like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, and help connect them with support and resources.

Franklin and Fulton County commissioners have initiated programs to help authorities identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illness. 08/29/2015 Link to Source

High school student and Born This Way Foundation ambassador Alexa Branco talks about her experience taking a Mental Health First Aid course. On a typical Tuesday, you can usually find me performing a number of tedious tasks, whether it’s trudging through work or cleaning my forever-messy room. However, Tuesday, August 11 was different—I found myself … Read more

The San Bernardino County Department of Behavioral Health (DBH) is working to remove the barriers that prevent people from seeking help for mental health concerns through its Prevention and Early Intervention programs. 08/18/2015 Link to Source

Mental health advocates are hanging on to their hats as winds of change start to blow. The topics of mental health and suicide prevention have come into the spotlight for our schools and youth. 08/10/2015 Link to Source

One-third of the city’s roughly 275 police officers have taken an in-depth, 40-hour course and all Rockford officers take an eight-hour mental health first-aid course. Every day, police officers take people in psychiatric crisis to Rosecrance’s Mulberry Center. 08/05/2015 Link to Source

Yesterday, a bipartisan group of nearly 20 Senators re-introduced a mental health and substance use awareness and treatment improvement bill. The legislation reauthorizes important programs in suicide prevention, mental illness awareness and de-escalation trainings such as Mental Health First Aid, and opioid use disorder treatment services. The Mental Health Awareness and Improvement Act was first … Read more

Stigma persists in our community, yet never before in my long career in mental health and addiction treatment have I been more optimistic that public understanding is beginning to turn from fear and discrimination toward hope and solutions. 07/23/2015 Link to Source

Bipartisan legislation to support mental health awareness programs for school personnel was approved by the U.S. Senate as an amendment to the Every Child Achieves Act (S. 1177). The amendment is based on the Mental Health First Aid Act (S. 711), stand-alone legislation introduced by Senators Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) that would … Read more

The governing body is joining a county-wide movement that seeks to dispel myths relating to individuals living with mental illnesses. 07/16/2015 Link to Source

My name is Sean Maitner. I am a mental health worker, a Certified Mental Health First Aid Instructor, a graduate student at a local university, a recovering alcoholic with seven years of sobriety, a husband, father and a person with a psychiatric diagnosis. In fact, several. 07/14/2015 Link to Source

Mental health professionals who are helping Missouri communities identify and care for those with severe mental illness will have an increased ability to help those individuals, thanks to a bill signed into law today by Gov. Jay Nixon. 07/13/2015 Link to Source

Almost everyone has completed some level of first-aid classes in their life, and, with the help of LifeSpring Health Systems, Mental Health First Aid will become as common as the original first-aid certification.  07/09/2015 Link to Source

Mental Health First Aid is a relatively new way for the lay person to assist someone experiencing signs or risk factors for mental illness or who is suffering from a trauma.  07/08/2015 Link to Source

The leading cause of workplace disability isn’t physical injury or even the result of sickness, but rather the hidden disease of mental illness. 6/28/15 Link to Source