Mental Health first aid courses for Veterans

by **Zoneforce** Sat 10 Jul 2021, 9:23 am

Kingston nurse organizes mental
health first aid courses for veterans

Shelby Talbot • For The Whig-Standard
Publishing date: Jul 09, 2021

Kerri Tadeu, a local nurse, is organizing mental health first aid courses aimed at the veterans community.

Tadeu worked at Providence Care, a teaching hospital affiliated with Queen’s University, as a registered psychiatric nurse for 18 years.

The course, Mental Health First Aid for the Veteran Community, is administered by the Mental Health Commission of Canada.

The one-day course equips people with a range of tools, including training them to recognize signs that may indicate someone is experiencing a decline in their mental well-being, respond with helpful actions when someone is experiencing a mental health or substance abuse crisis and practise self-care to manage their own mental well-being.

The course isn’t training to provide therapy, peer support or other types of long-term support. Additionally, it isn’t designed for participants who are currently experiencing a severe mental health crisis.

According to the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s website, the goal of the course is to “improve our collective capacity to recognize and assist with addictions, as well as mental health problems and illnesses, by supporting veterans in the application of evidence-based practices in service delivery, the workplace and personal interactions.”

In 2018, Veterans Affairs Canada ran pilot testing for mental health first aid courses for the veterans community. Tadeu was involved in the project, helping to organize the then in-person courses and certify 156 people in MHFA.

The MFHA Veteran Community course was developed with funding from the Department of Veterans Affairs, consultations with stakeholders including veterans, veterans organizations and Veterans Affairs Canada, and testing through its pilot program.

Now, those with a connection to the veterans community can access the $250 course for free thanks to funding from Veterans Affairs Canada.

The first course organized by Tadeu, scheduled for July 14, is already full. The next available date for registration is July 29. After that, Tadeu will organize a course every six weeks.

“I’ve taken (the MHFA) course three times,” Tadeu told the Whig-Standard in an interview. “I took it back in 2017, 2020 and just recently in 2021.

“Mental health is constantly changing, and we’re still in the pandemic. I think it’s important for people to continue their education and to receive Mental Health First Aid. It’s the same as CPR first aid: things like taking a refresher or taking it for the first time to be able to help somebody in their time of need.”

In 2020, Tadeu received the Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation in memory of her friend and Kingston resident Maj. Michelle Knight-Mendes, who took her own life in Afghanistan in 2009.

In 2016, Tadeu, a veteran and a Canadian Armed Forces member jointly adopted the Highway of Heroes, the stretch of Highway 401 that runs between Trenton and Toronto, in honour of Knight-Mendes.

The highway adoption program brings in members of the military and veterans community twice a year to pick up trash off the side of the highway.

“Even though we’re being very environmentally astute in our efforts, we’re actually gathering as a veteran community. And it’s what happens off the Highway of Heroes where the mental health component comes in,” Tadeu explained.

Tadeu said she is also organizing the MHFA course in Knight-Mendes’ memory.

“Michelle’s been gone for 12 years, but I feel a responsibility to build a legacy in her memory, to help others to help themselves, and to always remember Michelle in everything that I do in my personal life, to effect change and to address the needs of serving members. That’s really important to me.”

Those seeking more information about the course or who would like to register can contact Tadeu by email at tadeuk@icloud.com or by phone at 613-539-1312.

https://www.thewhig.com/news/local-news/kingston-nurse-organizes-mental-health-first-aid-courses-for-veterans