RAFAEL JOSEPH P.

LARDIZABAL MAY 2020

NCENL05 NCB-II

Youth Mental Health First-Aid: Juvenile Justice Staff Training to Assist Youth with Mental
Health Concerns

SUMMARY:

Many youth in juvenile justice settings meet criteria for a mental health condition. Youth Mental
Health First Aid (YMHFA) is an 8-hour training for adults without mental health education to recognize
and assist distressed youth. YMHFA is designed to be disseminated through a train-the-trainers model.
That is, a sub-set of target audience members complete 5 days of instruction to become certified YMHFA
trainers, and then they deliver YMHFA training to the rest of their audience group. This allows details of
the standardized YMHFA training to be tailored to the specific context and setting of the audience
group, such as through examples and addressing setting-specific challenges, while maintaining fidelity to
the national model.

In juvenile justice settings, intake and direct care workers usually have the first and most
substantial contact with youth. Therefore, they need to be trained in and sensitive to identifying and
responding to youth who may have mental health, substance use or suicidal issues. Although many of
these youth receive formal mental health and substance use services while in care, all staff who interact
with them need at least basic skills and tools to be supportive and responsive.

Mental Health First Aid is an evidence-based 8-hour national certification course that teaches
members of the lay public and those in non-mental-health employment the skills to recognize the signs
and symptoms of a mental health concern or crisis, to assist the distressed person in the moment, and
to help connect him/her to helpful professional resources.