CPR for mental health? Dallas nonprofit offering free youth mental health first aid classes

A new survey is highlighting the mental health crisis in youth right now.

Politico surveyed 1,400 mental health professionals across the country and found more than half are not happy with the current resources available to address mental health issues in children and teens.

A local nonprofit is working to change that by teaching the community how to become a resource.

Just like people can get certified in CPR First Aid, Communities In Schools of the Dallas Region is offering free classes that teach people how to become certified in Mental Health First Aid for youth, which can be just as crucial in saving a life.

"I always talk about the fact that first aid is taught pretty widespread, right? We have all heard some kind of way about how to do chest compressions until 911 arrives. And so this course is designed similarly to teach people how to do the metaphor ‘chest compressions’ until they can get the youth connected to their next best step,” said Dr. Summer Rose, chief clinical officer for Communities In Schools of the Dallas Region. "That might look like plugging them into resources. That might look like doing some in the moment kind of interventions to help stabilize them until 911, a youth mental health provider, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a school counselor, or somebody can intervene."

The Youth Mental Health First Aid is designed to teach parents, family members, caregivers, teachers, school staff, peers, neighbors, health and human services workers, and other caring citizens how to help an adolescent – between the ages of 12 and 18 – who is experiencing a mental health or addictions challenge or is in crisis.

Click here for details on the free classes coming up on Wednesday, April 17, and May 15. You do have to complete two hours of online pre-work before you attend the in-person portion of the class and you must be 18 or older to register. You can also email clinical@cisdallas.org for more information.

The 8-hour, in-depth class teaches the signs and symptoms of a mental health emergency, a five-step action plan to help youth, and what anxiety, depression, substance use, and various disorders can look like in young people.

A Children's Health report from a few months ago highlights the need for resources like this. In 2021, suicide was the second-leading cause of death nationally for kids 10 to 14.

"The rates for youth suicide have skyrocketed and that's not something that anybody wants to see, right? That's not a number that we want to see continue to go up. And so I think that that is a piece of this course that people really, really connect to,” said Dr. Rose. "One thing that I think is always kind of monumental – and when you kind of see the light bulb go off when people are in this class – is around understanding the signs and symptoms of suicide. We dispel some myths and provide some facts around, what does it look like when a youth is contemplating suicide? How do we get in front of that?"

NBC 5's own Brittney Johnson is one of the latest to complete the training course and become certified in mental health first aid. The certification lasts three years and is given through the National Council for Mental Wellbeing.

Brittney Johnson NBC 5

For the last 40 years, Communities In School of the Dallas Region has placed trained staff in high-need schools across North Texas to address behavioral and mental health, attendance, social services, and academics.

The non-profit is in partnership with fourteen area school districts and has staff placed within a total of 130 elementary, middle, and high school campuses to address the issues that place a child on the Texas Education Agency’s statewide “at-risk” list.

In the 2022-2023 school year, the nonprofit served over 103,000 students. Of those students, 61% met one or more state criteria to be considered at risk of dropping out of school, 46% had either been held back a grade or failed a major academic benchmark in the past year, and 27% met the state standard for “Limited English Proficiency.”

But Dr. Rose said the outcomes for the students bring signs of hope. Of the same students served last school year, 81% improved in academics, behavior, and/or attendance, 99% were promoted to the next grade, 97% of eligible seniors graduated and 100% stayed in school.

“Research has shown you only need one person, as a youth, to believe in you,” said Dr. Rose. “We have so much to overcome but you only need one person. And Communities In Schools has that trained individual on their campus that can be that one person for the students that are at-risk.”