As last Fall moved swiftly by, SPCC Atlanta AHEC’s Preceptor Coordinator Kedrick Williams, and Clayton State and AHEC Scholars Program faculty member Dr. Sharon Jones did not forego the opportunity to spread the news of Mental Health First Aid. In fact, within the month of October, they taught two full courses to Clayton State nursing students, dental hygiene students, members of the 2018 and 2019 Cohorts of the Georgia AHEC Scholars Program, and Staff of some local community organizations including SPCC Atlanta AHEC and WorkSource Fulton.
Spanning these two stand-alone courses, Williams and Jones taught the course content to 44 participants. Following course completion, participants indicated that their learning experiences were “impactful” and “fantastic” and they “feel prepared to aid people in mental health crisis and get them to professionals who can help them”.
Now that a new year and new decade has begun, SPCC Atlanta AHEC has set even higher goals to reach and have started early to accomplish them. One of which being to continue the training of newly Certified Instructors in Mental Health First Aid. On January 14-16, Dr. Kimberly Williams, Executive Director of the Georgia State Medical Association, Inc. (GSMA) and Dr. Tamara Thompson-Jackson, Assistant Professor at Clayton State University’s School of Nursing, successfully completed the intensive three-day course, having learned to recognize and address a mental health crisis, as well as understand the tools and resources needed to help individuals experiencing a crisis. Similar to Williams and Jones, these two newly minted Instructors will uphold the requirement of teaching three MHFA classes each year to maintain their certification.
Look out Metro Atlanta, there are now four high-equipped and skilled Instructors
ready to teach one and all about Mental Health First Aid!
*Training was held at Mercer University—Macon in partnership with the Georgia Statewide AHEC Network and in conjunction with the Georgia AHEC Scholars Program. This course is developed by the National Council for Behavioral Health.