From healthy children to healthy communities: LINC coordinators train on youth mental health first aid
It might be a sullen child alone, head tucked down in the morning. Or an anxious child, lashing out at other children at the end of a school day.
They can move hidden within the swirl of a busy classroom, and LINC is working with the Kansas City Health Department to help see to it that these children are seen, understood and comforted.
The teachers who led a summer full-day workshop with LINC Caring Communities Coordinators came with wide experience in Kansas City’s efforts to quell violence and nurture peace.
Dalana Johnson is a strategist helping Kansas City communities engage in the health department’s broad anti-violence initiative, KC Blueprint for Violence Prevention and a Safe and Healthy Community.
Theresa Nunally works for the department’s Aim4Peace team, responding to area hospitals to intercede in trauma situations spurred by violence to help families and their communities seek comfort.
Dalana Johnson leads LINC Caring Communities Coordinators in the Kansas City Health Department’s Youth Mental Health First Aid program.
Many children carry the weight of frightening experiences with them into LINC’s programs, Johnson and Nunally said. Unlike physical injuries, the scars of damaged mental health aren’t visible on the surface.
“We wanted to empower (LINC coordinators) to recognize the signs and symptoms,” Johnson said.
“We want to teach more awareness,” said Nunally, “so (the coordinators) can provide support and resources children need.”
Johnson and Nunally are part of the Health Department’s Behavioral Health and Injury Prevention Division. And their mission with the LINC team was to teach Youth Mental Health First Aid.
This is important preparation for the coming school year, said LINC Caring Communities Director Sean Akridge.
“As we approach the start of the new school year,” he said, “it’s important to equip our coordinators with skills to best support students of all ages.”
Throughout the day, LINC coordinators learned the signs of trauma and practiced strategies to interact with troubled children, to help them feel validated and comforted, and what actions staff should take in different situations.
Healthy children are important to the health of the family and the community, Johnson and Nunally said, and it is essential to the future prosperity of a non-violent city.
“If we can touch our youth and make sure they are in a good mental space, we will also have more healthy adults,” Johnson said.
“If we can get to the root causes,” said Nunally, “we can help with violence reduction and build a healthier community.”
LINC’s Caring Communities provide a broad range of services to children, families and neighborhoods through programs that are anchored in many community sites, including the before and after school programs at more than 40 schools across the Kansas City, Hickman Mills, Grandview, Center and North Kansas City School Districts and Lee A. Tolbert Community Academy charter school.