First free training session to be held next month.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
Email Adele
The Rappahannock Area Community Services Board is now offering free suicide prevention training in Spanish for the benefit of the entire Fredericksburg community.
Suicide rates among Hispanic people in the United States increased by 39% between 2011 and 2022, compared to a 16% increase for the population as a whole, according to an analysis by KFF, a nonprofit health policy research organization.
But the Hispanic population is less likely than the general population to know about mental health support and treatment options.
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“[The KFF] analysis also found that Hispanic adults were less likely to know how to find mental health providers or to know about the 988 mental health hotline which connects individuals with suicide prevention resources,” a press release from RACSB states.
To address this disparity, RACSB, in partnership with Healthy Families Rappahannock Area, is offering Mental Health First Aid training in Spanish. The first free daylong training session—with lunch included—will be held on November 14, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., at RACSB’s River Club location, 10825 Tidewater Trail in Spotsylvania County.
“Talking about mental health and suicide can be challenging, in any language,” said Michelle Wagaman, prevention services director for RACSB, in an email to the Advance. “Providing the opportunity to engage in this important conversation in the language a participant may be more comfortable with enhances the learning experience.”
RACSB wants Mental Health First Aid “to be as common as CPR/First Aid,” Wagaman said. “To do that, training facilitation needs to better represent the diverse community in which we live. This is one step towards that goal.”
Mental Health First Aid is a skills-based course, developed by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, that teaches participants about mental health and substance-use issues and how to help someone experiencing a mental health crisis.
RACSB has offered this training in the Fredericksburg area since 2014 and has now trained 4,291 individuals to respond to mental health emergencies.
Wagaman said RACSB plans to offer additional Mental Health First Aid in Spanish trainings in 2025, hopefully on a quarterly basis.
Registration for next month’s course here or download the PDF (with QR code) below:
2024 11 14 Racsb Adult Mhfa Spanish Flyer (logo)
631KB ∙ PDF file
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