Melissa Drury
Mental Health First Aid Coordinator
Melissa Drury is the Mental Health First Aid Outreach Coordinator at Center for Life Resources. She has a passion sharing her knowledge of mental health and encouraging emotional wellbeing for those throughout the community. She has strong sense of community connection, serving through outreach work of teaching mental health first aid to educators, nurses, correctional officers, teens, and other populations within the 7-county catchment area of Center for Life Resources.
For more information about Mental Health First Aid, or to schedule a class, please contact Melissa Drury at (325)-646-9574
Identify. Understand. Respond.
What is Mental Health First Aid?
- An 8 hour, evidenced-based public education program that introduces participants to risk factors and warning signs of mental illnesses for adolescents and transition youth, ages 12-18.
- Builds an understanding of the importance of early intervention.
- Teaches participants how to offer initial help to a young person experiencing a mental health challenge.
Who it’s designed for:
- All school personnel (to include bus drivers, janitorial staff, dietary staff, office staff, counselors, nursing staff, SRO’s, & Admin!)
- Foster Parents
- Social Workers
Learn The 5 step action plan: Algee
- Assess for risk of suicide or harm
- Listen nonjudgmentally
- Give reassurance and information
- Encourage appropriate professional help
- Encourage self-help and other support strategies
Most of us would know how to help if we saw someone having a heart attack—we’d start CPR, or at the very least, call 9-1-1. But too few of us would know how to respond if we saw someone having a panic attack or if we were concerned that a friend or co-worker might be showing signs of alcoholism.
Mental Health First Aid takes the fear and hesitation out of starting conversations about mental health and substance use problems by improving understanding and providing an action plan that teaches people to safely and responsibly identify and address a potential mental illness or substance use disorder.
When more people are equipped with the tools they need to start a dialogue, more people can get the help they need. Mental Health First Aiders can even save lives.
