Published June 20, 2022
Mental Health Training Challenge
Encouraged by President Jason Strouf’s commitment to mental health, and hearing Karl Rosston’s (State Suicide Prevention coordinator) statement that the role of counties in stemming the tide of suicide is education, Jefferson County undertook a project to educate and train as many county employees as possible in suicide prevention.
We have had the kind assistance of the Lewis and Clark County Public Health Department and their Suicide Prevention staff and trained more than 80 of our approximate 100 county staff in either Mental Health First Aid or QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer). We will continue to train the remainder of our staff.
Additionally, we will provide the annual or semi-annual refresher training necessary to retain the learned skills. Further, since we consider Suicide Prevention as important as CPR, it is our intention to build the Suicide Prevention training into all new employee orientation.
Jefferson County Challenges You…
We would like to challenge all Montana counties to exceed the outcome we have achieved with our mental health training programs. Mental health is the major health crisis of our time. Please join us in training your staff and working with your Mental Health Local Advisory Councils to enable the necessary education and training to begin to bend the trend lines of suicide and serious mental illness downward.
If we can be of assistance, let us know.