Sentinel Correspondent
FAIRMONT — Human Services of Faribault and Martin counties will be offering free mental health first aid courses in the first three months of the new year. The eight-hour course is being offered through the National Council for Behavioral Health.
Mental health first aid teaches you how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illness and substance abuse disorders.
Caroline McCourt is the Statewide Health Improvement Partnership coordinator for FMCHS. She explained how the courses came to be offered.
“When the pandemic began, some of the ag producers and meat packaging plants were closing down, farmers were having a difficult time and some had to slaughter many of their animals. It all had a ripple effect in our community, along with everything else piling on. There was a lot of uncertainty,” McCourt explained.