Do you know how to give psychological first aid? A new course can teach!
The holiday period brings a lot of joy and happiness to thousands of residents of Manitoba. However, this period can also be quite complicated for other residents. Many people struggle with psychological problems and it is quite difficult for them to spend holidays and not to get depressed.
First of all, it is about those residents of the province who have lost someone from close people and feel their loss especially acutely during the holidays.
Christian Clavelle lost two close relatives, and he together with Red Cross created a course which should help people give first psychological help. Perhaps this will save many lives in the future.
"I went through every conceivable stage of trauma, guilt … But where I'm at now, I'm in a good space," Clavelle said, though he still feels some days are tougher than others.
The program consists of a two-day course, after which all participants will receive a certificate valid for three years. The courses will teach how to respond to a person correctly if he has a crisis, and how to protect your psychological health at this moment.
"If you're there for somebody, and they're in crisis, it's invariably going to impact you. It's going to affect you," Clavelle said. “Being there for somebody who's in a crisis requires some things from you.”
The program began in the fall, and the first group finished the course last week.
The participants will be able to help people cope with different stress situations, survive the trauma and the grief, as well as to minimize the consequence of the trauma.
The cost of the course is $177. However, if somebody wants to study but cannot afford to spend such amount of money, Red Cross gives them the opportunity to take other psychological courses. Detailed information is already on the official website.
In the holiday period, the anniversary of the death of one of Clavelle’s sisters is. So, he considers it particularly important to pay attention to those people who experience any psychological problems during this period of the year. The course will not make you a professional psychiatrist, but it can teach you some basic things that will help other people.
Susan Chief, who works in the Bear Clan Patrol, took a course with other employees. The woman says that the Bear Clan works with teenagers and young women who are going through difficult times and think about suicides. Susan says that obtaining such knowledge can be very important for her and for other people working in the organization.
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