BG court employees get mental health training

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Helping people with a broken arm is easy – get them to the hospital and sign their casts. But for those
assisting people with mental illness, help is hard to give and the need is harder to recognize.
Mental health issues like depression and schizophrenia aren’t as obvious as that broken arm, but they
deserve just as much attention from people who can help.
"There’s a lot of emphasis on physical illness, not mental illnesses," said Laura Selders,
criminal justice coordinator for the Family Service of NW Ohio. "They affect life the same way and
we want to help put this into perspective."
Selders shared this perspective with Bowling Green Municipal Court employees during a "Mental Health
First Aid" training March 25.
Along with Jessica Schmitt, Wood County’s National Alliance on Mental Illness Executive Director, Selders
taught employees how to recognize and assist people with mental illnesses.
The all-day training taught participants how to asses for risk of suicide or harm, listen
non-judgmentally, give reassurance and information and encourage appropriate help.
"The point of the mental health first aid training is not to diagnose, but to teach people to
recognize the signs," Schmitt said. "People really took a lot away from it."
Reaching out to employees, like those at the Bowling Green Municipal Court, involved in the criminal
justice department is crucial for mental health awareness.
Many times, court and police stations are the first stop for people with mental illness after an illegal
encounter.
"The earlier we can identify these people, the sooner we can provide treatment and prevent people
from entering the criminal justice system," Selders said. "This is about increasing community
safety."
The training included exercises to let the court employees take a walk in the shoes of a person with
mental illness.
A popular exercise simulated the effects of auditory hallucinations.
One person would attempt to have a conversation with a second person while the third person whispered a
script in the first person’s ear.
"They found it was difficult to carry on a conversation and they actually wanted to respond,"
Schmitt said. "People took the most away from that one – they saw what it was really like."

That understanding can help more people get the help they need.
Training participant Jodi Dierksheide knows the training she received will enrich her job as the Bowling
Green Municipal Court Deputy Clerk.
"One example they gave was a woman having a panic attack in the lobby and they gave us suggestions
on how to deal with it," she said. "Instead of freaking out, now I feel more confident."

Through training like this, Schmitt and Selders are hoping mental illnesses will get treated just like
the physical ones – with care and compassion.
For now, there’s still work to be done.
One in four people struggle from mental illness, and only 50 percent of that number is receiving
treatment.
"These people just get less support," Schmitt said. "People don’t just go up and say,
‘hey, how’s your mental illness?’"
These questions can be asked outside of work as well, the court employees learned.
"Training like this doesn’t just help people in a work environment, but it helps friends in a social
group," Schmitt said. "It might make people even more cognizant of their own needs."
Groups interested in having their own mental health first aid training can visit www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org.

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