Two Exciting Mental Health First Aid Training Opportunities
The Dean of Students Office is excited to share two upcoming opportunities for you to become Mental Health First Aid certified! Please pre-register via the opportunity links to Dragon Central below.
Identify. Understand. Respond.
Join us for a comprehensive Mental Health First Aid training course, designed to equip participants with the skills to identify, understand, and respond to mental health and substance use challenges. Much like CPR and first aid, Mental Health First Aid provides crucial support for individuals experiencing mental health crises until professional help is available or the crisis is resolved.
Key Objectives:
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- Preserve life when an individual is a danger to self or others
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- Prevent the problem from worsening
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- Promote recovery and resiliency
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- Provide comfort and support
- Help identify appropriate resources and guide individuals to them
Participants will earn Mental Health First Aid certification upon completing this 6-hour training, offered in two 3-hour virtual sessions on April 4 and 11, from 9:30am to 12:30pm. Attendance at both sessions is mandatory. Online location information will be shared after the registration deadline.
Registration Deadline: March 31
Capacity: 20 participants
Participants will earn Mental Health First Aid certification upon completing this 6-hour training, offered in two 3-hour in-person sessions on May 22 and 29, from 9:30am to 12:30pm. Attendance at both sessions is mandatory.
Registration Deadline: May 15
Capacity: 20 participants
About the Presenter:
Sarah Dixon-Hackey, M.B.A.
Sarah Dixon-Hackey is the Community Outreach Liaison for Clay County Public Health and a full-time Business Instructor at Minnesota State Technical & Community College.
She has spent 9 years working with Community Centers that focus on programming for at-risk populations and has worked extensively with refugees and asylum seekers to bring mental health resources to their communities.
Along with her professional work, Dixon-Hackey works closely with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, chairing the Out of the Darkness walks from 2014-2021 and serving as their Public Policy Ambassador for the state of North Dakota. She is an approved Trainer for the AFSP’s “More Than Sad” suicide prevention training for parents and educators and is a certified Mental Health First Aid Trainer. Her writing has been featured on the AFSP National blog on two separate occasions featuring her posts, “Adopting a New Attitude to My Mental Health,” and “As an Asian American I Know the Impact Cultural Heritage Can Have on Mental Health.” In addition to her work with the AFSP, she is Vice President of the North Dakota National Alliance on Mental Illness and sits on the Board of Directors for the Fargo-Moorhead Jeremiah Program.