REINBECK – Iowa State University Extension and Outreach provided Youth Mental Health First Aid training to staff from Gladbrook-Reinbeck Community School District, who work with youth ages 6 to 18, at BarLea Roots Event Center on Wednesday, Aug. 20. This educational program is designed to help adults help young people with mental health challenges.

Youth Mental Health First Aid introduces common mental health and substance use challenges in youth and reviews typical adolescent development. Participants learned a five-step action plan for how to help young people in both crisis and non-crisis situations.

“Participants learn how to comfortably talk to a child or teen about mental health. It’s not an easy conversation, but it is important and can save a young person’s life,” Tammy Jacobs, Extension Health and Human Sciences educator, said.

G-R Superintendent Caleb Bonjour said, “It equipped our staff with the tools they need to be a resource and a place of comfort when a child may be in crisis, but also now have more knowledge of things to look for and how they can actively help students before they get to a crisis moment.”

This training was funded by Grundy County Extension and Outreach and a grant from the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa to provide mental health training to Grundy County residents.