Best practices, stopping the stigma emphasized during mental health summit at Columbus Zoo

COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — The organization Mental Health First Aid held its fifth annual collaborative summit at the Columbus Zoo on Friday.

The goal is to get people more comfortable with stepping in to help in a mental health situation and sharing what they learned to help break the stigma that surrounds it.

Leaders of MHFA Ohio said the summit attendees will be learning best practices when it comes to intervening in a mental health situation. They said everything down to the environment you are in matters.

Statewide Director Janet Gora said they picked the zoo to host the event for its calming environment. She said she hopes people leave Friday’s summit with a sense of empowerment.

“I want this group of people to feel refreshed and part of a movement like we’re all here trying to help other people,” Gora said. “And I want them to get that really good feeling in their hearts like we are.”

Gora said they will be teaching people how to recognize a mental health crisis, how to help if they see one, how to show compassion in those situations and how to advocate to get funding for mental health services in your community. She said there’s typically an 11-year gap from when people start feeling mental health symptoms to when they seek treatment.

“So, if we can narrow that and as a mental health first aid or step in and help these people help earlier, then they don’t have to struggle for 11 years and you know them and their families, their job is relationships like it impacts so much of their lives,” Gora said. “So, we want to give people at the beginning, get them help so that they don’t have to struggle.”

Jessica Wright is one of the instructors at the summit and a statewide project coordinator for MHFA.

“We’re talking everything about how to be a better instructor, what to do, what not to do, the do’s and don’ts, if you will, ABC’s we have an algorithm or an acronym called ALGAE, so we’ll go through that as well,” Wright said.

Wright hopes this summit not only prepares people for help but will be another step toward breaking the stigma around mental health.

“To me, it’s important because everyone has their own stigmas when it comes to mental health,” Wright said. “Everyone has their own levels of what it means to them as far as looking crazy or looking different from other people. And what I can say is what Mental Health First Aid does is it lets us all know that we’re the same.”

Mental Health First Aid has trained thousands of people statewide. 160 people — all with different backgrounds — were at the summit Friday.

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