Recently, 31 officers, detectives, and corrections personnel from Madison County Sheriff’s Department certified in Mental Health First Aid for Public Safety. The Public Safety version of Mental Health First Aid was created by police officers to meet the special needs of officers in our communities. Not only do sheriffs deputies and police officers respond, daily, to situations in which people are dealing with tragedy, trauma, distress and potential mental illness, but they are the people who, on a consistent basis, put themselves in harm’s way to keep the rest of us safe.

Mental Health First Aid is one way in which the Madison County Police and Sheriff’s Departments are taking action to learn additional skills to add to their knowledge set. Special thanks to Sheriff Mellinger for coordinating the seminar and the Madison County Health Department for providing this training, as well as the FOP for allowing us to use their space. The class was a wonderful group of people with a genuine desire to serve their community in the best ways possible. Thanks for coming and joining the 1.5 million certified Mental Health First Aiders in the USA!