YMHFA: No Cost Professional Development

Student Safety and Well-Being
Youth Mental Health First Aid
Virtual Training

Sometimes, first aid isn't a bandage, or CPR, or the Heimlich or calling 911.
Sometimes, first aid is YOU!

A child or young person you know could be experiencing a mental health challenge or crisis. YMHFA teaches you skills to help them.

You are more likely to encounter a child or young person—friend, family member, student, neighbor, or member of the community—in an emotional or mental crisis than someone having a heart attack. Learning how to help them is critical.

Training Content

Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) teaches you how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illness and substance use disorders in youth. This training gives adults the skills they need to reach out and provide initial support to children and adolescents (ages 6-18) who may be developing a mental health or substance use problem and help connect them to the appropriate care.

Intended Audience

Anyone can take the YMHFA course, but it is ideally designed for adults who work with young people, ages 6-18: teachers, nurses, counselors, coaches, secretaries, campus monitors, yard supervisors, registrars, lunch staff, bus drivers, leaders of faith communities, law enforcement, parents, youth employers, and other caring citizens.

This training will be provided VIRTUALLY.

Participants will be required to complete 2 hours of self-paced instruction prior to the instructor-led learning.

Content from this training supports Local Control and Accountability Plan—Priority Area: Student Engagement and School Climate.

Space is limited to 30 participants per training. Multiple trainings can be delivered simultaneously. For more information or to schedule a training, please send a message to YMHFA@CDE.CA.GOV

Mental health professionals who wish to participate should know this course is basic and will give them common language to share with their colleagues.

This training is sponsored by the California Department of Education and is made possible through funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) through the Project Advancing Wellness and Resilience in Education State Educational Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Stop School Violence Act Program. California’s Project AWARE-SEA (Project Cal-Well) is a consortium of the CDE and three grantee LEAs: Humboldt County Office of Education and Del Norte Unified School District; Sacramento County Office of Education and Paradise Unified School District; and Stanislaus County Office of Education. Participant manuals generously donated by the local chapters of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and instructor stipends generously donated by Blue Shield of California.