Miami-Dade County Public Schools is rolling out classes to train teen mental health first aiders at schools across the district. NBC 6’s Ari Odzer reports
Who do teenagers confide in? Their friends, of course. So it makes sense to train them to identify signs of depression, anxiety and substance abuse in their peers.
“So this isn’t just one day a friend misses school, this is a lot longer than would be typical,” said Vanessa Jansen, a certified mental health professional, to a classroom of 10th graders at J.C. Bermudez Doral Senior High School.
The students are becoming what Miami-Dade County Public Schools calls teen mental health first aiders. These classes are happening in 18 high schools within the district, consisting of three one-hour sessions.
“You’re not to be diagnosing,” Jansen said to the class. “You’re not being trained to provide any type of intervention, you’re there to know the signs and symptoms and be able to support a friend, connect them with an appropriate trusted adult or professional help.”
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The students seemed eager to absorb the knowledge.
“I feel like it’s valuable because if you spot the signs you can help someone that you know is also going through it, before they do a regrettable decision,” said student Sofia Alvarado.
“It will be most likely people who know there’s someone who is already struggling, they will have the extra push to go and help them,” added classmate Raymon Perez.
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The goal is to be proactive, rather than reactive, according to Sally Alayon, who leads the district’s department of mental health.
“So they can understand, what is mental health, maybe they’re feeling something, some changes, but really important is that they learn to identify if their friend or peer is going through some type of a mental health challenge or even a crisis,” Alayon explained.
Jansen said 20% of teenagers will have a mental health issue before they turn 18. The kids we met today are ready to help themselves and their peers get through the challenges.
