Mental Health First Aid for Public Safety class held at SMA Putnam's Care Center

PALATKA, Fla. - Oct. 24, 2017 - PRLog -- Stewart-Marchman-Act (SMA) Behavioral Healthcare held a Mental Health First Aid Training at SMA's Putnam Care Center on October, 17th. The eight hour training teaches participants a five-step action plan to support someone who is developing signs or symptoms of an emotional crisis, or mental illness. Mental Health First Aid is a globally recognized training, and is considered an evidenced based practice. The training has been proven to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health and substance use disorders, to make participants more knowledgeable about those disorders, and to increase the participant's comfort with approaching and assisting a person who is having a behavioral health crisis. The Public Safety version of Mental Health First Aid was presented by Tore Gintoli, Senior Director of Crisis Services at SMA. The training was free of charge and was attended by 15 employees from the Putnam County Sheriff's Office, the Crescent City Police Department, and 3 representatives from SMA. Captain Woods from the Putnam County Sheriff's Office, Captain Williams from the Palatka Police Department, and Chief Damiano from the Crescent City Police Department were in attendance.

Such ongoing collaboration is in keeping with SMA's recent initiative to establish a Crisis Triage and Treatment Unit in Putnam, the purpose of which is to expand services at their crisis center in a manner that includes community partners, especially Law Enforcement, to ensure that that the community has an understanding of the behavioral health system and resources available, as well as knowledge about how to access it.

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About SMA Behavioral

SMA Behavioral Healthcare has been serving the northeast Florida community with mental health and drug treatment services for over 50 years.  SMA provides more than 35 mental health and substance abuse programs, providing prevention, diversion, intervention, and treatment services, delivered to diverse client populations in Columbia, Flagler, Putnam, St. Johns, and Volusia counties.

SMA Behavioral Healthcare's mission is to deliver exceptional and comprehensive behavioral healthcare to individuals and families in our community. SMA's vision is of a community where addiction and mental illness are treated promptly, comprehensively and with respect for all. Contact SMA at 800-539-4228 or online at http://www.smabehavioral.org/ or stay connected on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SMABehavioralHealthServices.