Colorado mountain communities have been known for several years now as having high rates of suicide. More recently Colorado was been declared a “Mental Health State of Emergency” by the Colorado Children’s Hospital due to the amount of suicide attempts in our communities.
Fortunately, just prior to the Pandemic, Eagle County had begun efforts to destigmatize mental health issues, and provide access to mental health resources.
Earlier this week local non-profit SpeakUp ReachOut offered a program called Mental Health First Aid For Hospitality Workers. Two sessions were offered. One in English and one in Spanish.
Mental Health First Aid is a skills-based training course that teaches participants about mental health and substance-use issues.
Just as CPR helps you assist an individual having a heart attack, Mental Health First Aid helps you assist someone experiencing a mental health or substance use-related crisis. In the Mental Health First Aid course, you learn risk factors and warning signs for mental health and addiction concerns, strategies for how to help someone in both crisis and non-crisis situations, and where to turn for help.
Many of the Antlers at Vail housekeeping team attended to learn how they can help their family, community and even visitors.
