Community Education and Training

Community Education and Development

Sertoma Centre is committed to not only having our agency be an environment where people living with mental illness can come and feel respected, supported and encouraged, but we are also committed to creating a supportive community by providing mental-health-related trainings to the community. Due to funding provided by state and federal grants, we have been able to offer free trainings that are aimed at increasing mental health literacy and decreasing the stigma that is often associated with mental illness. The trainings have been offered to community groups, businesses, law enforcement agencies, schools and universities, faith-based organizations, veterans groups and health care providers. Our trainers are available to consult with your group to help determine the type of training that would best fit your needs. Sertoma Centre is also able to provide CEUs for a fee, for some professions.

Who We Help

Faith-Based Groups | Local Businesses | Local Universities | Social Service Providers | Health Providers | Towns or Townships | Legislators | Police Departments | Emergency Medical Services | Hospitals

Types of Training Offered

Mental Health First Aid

Duration: 8 hours

Modules:
Adult | Youth | Public Safety | Older Adults | Veterans | Higher Education

Description of Course:
Just as CPR helps you to assist an individual having a heart attack — even if you have no clinical training — Mental Health First Aid helps you to assist someone experiencing a mental health-related crisis. In the Mental Health First Aid Course, you will learn risk factors and warning signs for mental health and addiction concerns, strategies for how to help someone in both crisis and non-crisis situations, and where to turn for help. You will learn how to apply the Mental Health First Aid action plan in a variety of situations, including when someone is experiencing:

  • Panic attacks
  • Suicidal thoughts or behavior
  • Non-suicidal self-injury
  • Acute psychosis (e.g., hallucination or delusions)
  • Overdose or withdrawal from alcohol or drug use
  • Reaction to a traumatic event

QPR Suicide Prevention

Duration: Variable, with a minimum of 1.0 hour

Course Description: Suicide prevention course that teaches participants how to help someone who may be considering suicide.

Course Objectives:

  • Recognize the common causes, risk factors and warning signs of suicide.
  • Understand the common myths and facts surrounding suicidal behavior.
  • Question a person about suicide.
  • Persuade a suicidal person to get help.
  • Refer a suicidal person to the appropriate resources.

SOS Suicide Prevention

SOS Suicide Prevention Program is a universal, school-based, depression-awareness and suicide-prevention program aimed at middle schools and high schools.

Course Objectives:

  • Train staff to recognize the warning signs of suicide.
  • Train staff to facilitate one-hour classroom-based SOS training.
  • Increase students’ awareness of the signs and symptoms of depression.
  • Equip students to self-refer and refer friends for additional mental health support.
  • Increase parents’ awareness of signs and symptoms of depression, and risk factors for suicide.

Mental Health Overview

Duration: Variable, with a minimum of 1.0 hour

Course Description: Customized workshop designed to meet the needs of participants. Sample topics:

  • Anger Management
  • Motivational Interviewing
  • Personality Disorders
  • PTSD
  • Verbal De-escalation
  • Wellness

Compassion Fatigue

Duration: Variable, with a minimum of 1.0 hour

Course Description: Participants explore the features, symptoms, and risk factors of compassion fatigue, along with self-awareness exercises and self-care strategies as key components for prevention.

Course Objectives:

  • Define compassion fatigue.
  • Understand the difference between compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue.
  • Understand the difference between burnout and secondary trauma as features of compassion fatigue.
  • Identify symptoms and risk factors of compassion fatigue.
  • Utilize various self-awareness exercises to identify one’s risk of developing compassion fatigue.

Identify and understand how to apply the ABC’s of preventing compassion fatigue (awareness, balance, connections) and key components of self-care (physical, psychological, behavioral).

Conflict Management

Duration: Variable, with a minimum of 1.0 hour

Course Description: Participants will explore the sources and nature of conflict, and complete various exercises designed to identify their individual conflict management styles and increase their repertoire of conflict management strategies.

Course Objectives:

  • Define conflict.
  • Understand the nature and sources of conflict.
  • Identify their individual conflict management styles.
  • Identify personal conflict situations they find stressful.
  • Discover and practice alternative approaches for preventing or managing conflict.
  • Explore the potential of affirmation as a conflict management skill.
  • Increase their repertoire of affirming behaviors related to conflict management.

Depression and Anxiety

Duration: Variable, with a minimum of 1.0 hour

Course Description: Participants will explore depression and anxiety as two of the most common mental disorders, with signs and symptoms that frequently co-occur, along with strategies for symptom management.

Course Objectives:

  • Understand depression and anxiety, and the common disorders associated with each or both of them.
  • Understand the symptoms and risk factors for depression and anxiety.

Learn coping strategies for both disorders

Hearing Voices

Duration: Variable, with a minimum of 1.0 hour

Course Description: Experiential workshop that provides a unique opportunity for participants to learn about auditory hallucinations, through a simulation in which they hear voices while progressing through simple daily experiences. The workshop also provides an overview of mental and medical illnesses that cause hallucinations, with specific emphasis given to schizophrenia, as it is currently considered the mental illness in which hearing voices is most prevalent.

Course Objectives:

  • Develop a better understanding of voice hearers.
  • Identify medical conditions associated with hearing voices.
  • Identify mental illnesses associated with hearing voices.
  • Dispel myths about schizophrenia.
  • Understand current research and diagnostic criteria related to schizophrenia.
  • Identify the signs and symptoms of schizophrenia.

Introduction to Cultural Competence

Duration: Variable, with a minimum of 1.0 hour

Course Description: Participants will explore what it means to be a culturally competent practitioner when interacting with individuals and families receiving services, as well as peers who are providing such services. Core practitioner competencies will be defined and introduced by providing a brief overview of their contribution to increasing one’s abilities as a culturally competent practitioner.

Course Objectives:

  • Define cultural competence.
  • Define core practitioner competencies* and have a basic understanding of their contribution to the ongoing process of increasing one’s ability as a culturally competent practitioner:
    • Self-knowledge
    • Knowledge of other cultural groups
    • Cultural knowledge of health, illness, and healing
    • Skill development
    • Self-assessment for cultural competence

Mindfulness

Duration: Variable, with a minimum of 1.0 hour

Course Description: In this interactive workshop, an overview of mindfulness and its positive effects will be provided along with instruction and practice of a variety of easy and accessible mindfulness-based stress-reduction techniques.

Course Objectives:

  • Describe mindfulness.
  • Understand the positive effects of mindfulness.
  • Utilize and/or explain one or more simple mindfulness-based stress-reduction practices for purposes of self-care and/or helping others to experience such practices.

Stress Management

Duration: Variable, with a minimum of 1.0 hour

Course Description: In this interactive workshop, participants explore the nature, symptoms and effects of stress, along with various approaches to managing stress.

Course Objectives:

  • Understand the nature of stress along with the concepts of “good stress” vs. “bad stress.”
  • Understand the connection between how stress is triggered and natural responses to stress.
  • Explore one’s current accumulation of life stressors and their potential impact on stress-induced health problems.
  • Understand common physical, emotional, behavioral and cognitive symptoms of stress.
  • Understand the long-term effects of stress.
  • Explore various stress management techniques and how they relate to the fight, flight and frozen responses to stress.

The Elephant in the Room: The Truth and Myths about Mental Illness Podcast

BOOK TRAINING
If you would like to book training for your group, please contact Gia Washington at gwashington@sertomacentre.org
(708) 748-1951 ext 418

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