This school year at Doherty, administrators and our mental health team are implementing a course called TMHFA (Teens Mental Health First Aid). This will take place for sophomores during 5th,6th and CCR periods. This is a program to teach students how to deal and respond to mental illness and substance disorders properly. This course will give students the skills to see the warning signs and to help them before it is too late.

According to Mental Health First Aid, a guide by Born This Way Foundation, one in every five American teens have had mental health problems at some point in their life. About 50% of all mental illnesses begin by age 14, and 75% by the mid-20s. Consequently, suicide has become the second leading cause of death for students ranging from age 15 to 24. 

Counselor Tim Garland and Teacher Kathy Reed will be teaching this course. The sophomore group was chosen because they will be here longer and they can share with others, and the overall goal is to get everyone educated on mental health.

Garland said, ”A big part of this program is getting a trusted adult involved with problems students may have.” 

This program will cover the mental health crisis, such as possible signs, hints of mental turbulence, addiction, and healthy ways to talk and open up about unhealthy addiction.

There will be three days worth of content presented by TMHFA. This program will be taught in three 90 minute sessions.

The first day is an intro into mental health overall and the challenges that come along with it, especially how often it affects teens. This first day provides information on how it challenges teens, how people that have had mental health gotten better and the professionals that can help. The second day focuses more on how to help a friend when they are struggling or feeling suicidal and which is called the TMHFA Action Plan; the plan entails looking for warning signs, asking how they are, listening to them and helping them find a trusted adult.

According to Garland, this will hopefully help bring the Doherty community together, help slow down the suicide rates, and help students get back to the normal mental health