HR and benefits professionals trained in first aid or CPR wouldn't hesitate to help one of their employees in physical distress until trained medical help arrived. Yet when it comes to mental health, it's a lot harder for HR and benefits pros to recognize the symptoms and signs of an employee's distress.

But a new mental health program called Mental Health First Aid is hoping to change that. It's a 12-hour program managed and operated by three authorities: the national Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and the Missouri Department of Mental Health.

More than 6,000 people in the United States have been certified since the program's introduction in 2008, and the National Council now is designing a workplace-specific curriculum launching this fall that will focus more directly on mental health issues in the workplace.

"If you have an employee suffering from a physical illness, you wouldn't think twice about counseling that person into utilizing your benefits so that person could get treatment and get better," says Bryan Gibb, director of public education for the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare.

"But for mental illness, because of the stigma and because our health care system doesn't necessarily treat mental illness in the same way [as physical illness], it's less likely someone is getting treatment for a mental illness. But that mental illness can be just as disruptive to that person's productivity, employee morale and corporate culture," he adds.

The program is based on a first-aid model. Mental-health first aid is the initial help given to a person showing symptoms of mental illness or in a mental health crisis until appropriate professional, peer or family support can be engaged.

"We don't diagnose. We don't treat mental illness," emphasizes Gibb. "Our goal is to give the first aider an understanding of mental illness and substance abuse disorders so they can have a sense of what some of the signs and symptoms of some of the various disorders might be. We also try to give them a toolkit so they can actually get involved with someone who might be suffering."

Looking for ALGEE

The course focuses on five categories of mental illness that have the highest prevalence: depression, anxiety, psychosis, substance abuse disorders and eating disorders. Each category is defined, and participants are shown tips and techniques for helping someone in acute distress.

"The mental health first aider is ideally equipped to maybe de-escalate a crisis, provide comfort and, if appropriate, refer to services," says Gibb.

Just like the ABCs in CPR (airway, breathing, circulation), there's a mnemonic device to help participants remember what to do when confronted with a mental health crisis. ALGEE stands for:

* Assess for risk of suicide and harm.

* Listen nonjudgmentally.

* Give reassurance and information.

* Encourage appropriate professional help.

* Encourage self-help and other support strategies.

"In some cases, the response is to get that person immediately to professional help if a person is actively suicidal or suffering from a health crisis because of alcohol withdrawal," says Gibb. "But in many cases, the first aider's job is to just be present, try to get the person to talk about how they're feeling. And in many cases, that can provide comfort for people and maybe get them in a place where they might be ready for treatment."

Anne Lafleur is vice president of human resources for Pawtucket Credit Union in Pawtucket, R.I. The organization employs 236 workers at 12 branches. Lafleur first noticed an increase in interest from employees about mental health issues about three years ago. "Our most popular wellness topics are anything we do that's mental-health-related," she says.

Lafleur took the mental health first-aid course earlier this year and says that while the course focused mostly on helping those in acute, more visible, mental distress, it was nonetheless helpful in her day-to-day job.

"You bring all of that information back to work, and you can use it when someone's in your office telling you their wife's just been diagnosed with breast cancer or their child's just been diagnosed with ADHD," she says. "It helps with your listening skills. It certainly helps with your responses."

Lafleur plans to send the other two members of her HR team to the training as soon as the next course is available. "It would be great if we could send every executive and every manager to the class also," she says. "But I think you need to start somewhere and because HR is always there in a crisis, definitely HR personnel should go through this course."

Gibb is keenly aware of the unique challenges HR/benefits pros face when dealing with mental health issues.

"They see the relevance to their workplace, and they see the abstract benefit of it [because] they've seen the cost of mental illness in terms of turnover and absenteeism and all that stuff, but they're nervous because they have professional responsibilities around privacy and appropriate conversations in supervisory relationships," he acknowledges. "And what I say is: In no way does mental-health first aid supplant your professional guidelines. Look at mental-health first aid as an additional tool that allows you to do what you do best, which is see observable behavior."

Lafleur agrees. "They made it perfectly clear that just because we've taken this class, we're not qualified to diagnose anything. Absolutely not," she says. "What it did was make us more mindful to maybe pick up cues that there's an issue happening."

Lafleur says the course has also made her more compassionate. "Prior to the class [offering help] was a little more sterile for me. I was kind of afraid to cross that barrier of saying too much or saying the wrong thing," she says. "I don't think I saw myself in the reassuring, comforting role before. It touched on everything I think I was already doing but helped me pinpoint what I could do better."

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