Mental Health First Aid With Criminal Justice Students

Mental illness is a major contributor impacting overall health, affecting more than 1 billion people globally (Papish et al., 2013). Research suggests more than 80% of people who die by suicide had a mental illness with suicide being the second leading cause of death for those between the ages of 15-29 (Isometsä, 2001). Yet, many individuals do not seek professional treatment for a variety of factors, including lack of awareness of warning signs and symptoms, mental health stigma, and unavailable services (Baumann, 2007). One method for addressing barriers to mental health treatment includes targeted efforts to improve mental health literacy in communities, especially rural communities (Mendenhall & Frauenholtz, 2013). This study sought to understand the impact Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training would have on criminal justice students completing it as part of a one-hour elective course. A prior study with this sample found that after completion of this training students reported increases in mental health literacy, decreases in stigmatic views toward those with mental illness, and decreases in endorsement of microaggressions related to mental illness. Using this same sample, we have open-coded a post-training reflection paper to assess the impact of MHFA on the student personally and professionally. Findings show decreases in fear to respond to those in crisis, increases in knowledge of resources, and a desire to advocate for self and others. Based on findings from both studies, we encourage all criminal justice programs to offer MHFA with the expectation that those working within the criminal legal system will then be better equipped with knowledge surrounding mental health challenges and disorders.