December, 2014 Volume 1, Issue 2 It’s All About Community!

C OMMUNITY E MPOWERMENT N UMBERS

Philadelphia offers many exciting reassurance. We also Philadelphia’s Aider community events to promote mental encouraged people to register for continues to grow. We now have wellness and community a MHFA training to learn the over 7,000 individuals certified, empowerment. From in-person warning signs of suicide and that is over 30% of all screenings to community forums, other behavioral health Pennsylvania’s Aiders! PA is these events show that challenges. maintaining second place in the Philadelphia is on the forefront of nation and has made huge gains shattering stigma and building Also in October, DBHIDS and on , which is in first hope. partner agencies spread out place. across Philadelphia to participate th MHFA Philly continues to offer On October 5 , the American in the nation’s oldest voluntary, Foundation for Suicide trainings FREE of Charge at Been (Continued on page 2) Prevention held an “Out of the (Continued on page 2) Darkness Walk” to helped by shed light on the nearly 40,000 people who die annually by ALGEE? suicide. Over 5,000 Please share your people turned out and MHFA Philly was there story with us, email: to offer hope,

[email protected] encouragement and

RE: ALGEE in Action “Finding the Light Within” collaborative mural for awareness and prevention, Artist James Burns

W HAT...C HECK - UP T HEN C HECKOUT ? On August 5th, the first ever a screening to see if their the signs and symptoms of screening kiosk opened outside responses are consistent with behavioral health challenges and and inside the Q-Care clinic at mental health wellness or if obtain resources from multiple the Shoprite of Fox Street. Now further evaluation is needed. organizations, including the Q- customers can not only check They can review information on Care staff. their physical health before From August through October, hitting the checkout line, they 116 people have utilized the can also check their mental kiosk. The number will grow as wellness. requests to replicate this system The screening kiosk developed are pending from other retail from the Wellness at Your clinics. It will only be a matter of Fingertips Design Challenge. The time before physical and mental Challenge was sponsored by the health are viewed as equally Scattergood Foundation and important. brought to fruition by two very bright Masters of Public Health Read more about the Q-Care candidates from Drexel, Gregory Kiosk: Caplan and Teresa Moore. CBS Philly Philly.com At the kiosk, customers can take

Philly MHFA @PhillyMHFA Community, continued from page 1 Numbers, continued from page 1 community-based screening communities and highlighting the multiple community hubs. In addition to the hubs, our strategic program, National Depression identified programs trying to break partnerships have been equally important to Philly MHFA’s Screening Day (NDSD). The event, the vicious cycle of these traumas. success. We are almost to our next benchmark of 10,000 Aiders, held annually on the first Thursday but there is still more work to do! of the first full week in October, The day opened with offered prevention and early presentations and panel Notable Numbers September: - December 2014 intervention resources through discussions with Dr. Roy Wade School District of Philadelphia: 175 new Youth Aiders and about free in-person screenings. A total (UPENN) and Dr. Jean Wright 30 attended for a refresher of 348 in-person screenings took (DBHIDS) about the impact of Faith Community: 105 new Adult Aiders place providing opportunities to trauma and strategies for Juvenile Probation Officers: 129 new Youth Aiders connect individuals to support prevention. Following the panel services. Many more were Public Safety: 266 new Adult Aiders presentation, we had an amazing informed of the Behavioral Health DHS: 125 new Adult Aiders dance routine performed by Screening Initiative and went home to get a “check-up from the SEEMAC’s Hip-Hop Heritage Dance neck up” on Group and heard from two HealthyMindsPhilly.org. intervention programs, Cure Violence and Every Murder Is Real To wrap up this busy month, (EMIR), as they presented on how DBHIDS sponsored the Community their services help communities Resilience: Transforming end the cycle of murder. Communities Symposium. The first, in a series of three, symposia Be on the lookout for the next designed to empower Community Resilience symposium Philadelphians by addressing the in January. impact of trauma on our

Map from Mental Health First Aid, ALGEE-ometer: A State-by-State Count of First Aiders Trained Aider Continuing Education Your first step should be your approach. The approach will be different depending on your relationships. If you know the person well you can probably be more direct. If this is a stranger or someone you are not close with, A you might want to start with introductions and conversation to make the person comfortable. Always keep the National Suicide Lifeline available, add it to your contacts in your cell phone – 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

Listening non-judgmentally takes skill. Remember the conversation is about them, not us. Consider your methods of listening and how you can be there for those in need. http://bit.ly/1w0MLlp

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Learn more about the use of alcohol and other drugs in adolescence to prepare parents and teens. http:// bit.ly/1FHUZy6 Youth identifying as LGBTQ are at greater risk of bullying and disproportionately make their way G into welfare and juvenile justice systems. With a little guidance you can help! http://bit.ly/1nWwwRt

Get excited!!! The Network of Care has re-launched allowing people to easily find the appropriate professional help. You can utilize learning resources for health topics and use interactive tools to monitor your wellness. www.networkofcare.org/ E

College can be a stressful time. Find out how PA and other states are preparing students. http://bit.ly/1zG0XSh Getting a good night sleep is important for our physical and mental wellbeing. Research has shown a link between sleep challenges and risk of mental health disorders. Improving sleep patterns can lower risk of E developing a disorder and help reduce the symptoms of a current disorder. http://bit.ly/1csHXZY

P HILLY MHF A M EET K EVIN H INES , K EVIN H INES M EET ALGEE! On October 21st, Philly MHFA travelled to the country. He trains police along the rails of the to West Chester University (WCU) to meet Kevin officers on how to interact with people who help remove it as the number one man-made Hines. The event was arranged thanks to are experiencing a mental health disorder or structure used to complete suicide. WCU and the Out of the Darkness campaign crisis (much like the Public Safety MHFA). to continue their October awareness events. Kevin also has a website and wrote a book, Find out more about Kevin Hines and his

Cracked, Not Broken. He is now working on a story at: kevinhinesstory.com For those of you trained in Youth MHFA you project that advocates for fences placed know Kevin’s story, but for others, Kevin’s story is shared in three parts throughout the Youth training. He explains signs and symptoms, the ALGEE action plan, and discusses the day he attempted suicide.

Frequently, the last video creates a lengthy discussion. Kevin details the events of September 24, 2000, the day he jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Aiders often ask about his physical recovery and debate how Kevin could have been helped.

During the event at WCU Kevin detailed more of his life story. He also addressed his continued maintenance of mental wellness and occasional relapse of the more intense symptoms of his bipolar disorder that he manages every day.

Kevin continues to support others in recovery as he speaks locally in California and across