Sarah Wilczynski, program coordinator of the Chelsea Hospital Mental Health Awareness Training (MHAT), recently spoke with The Chelsea Update to discuss the training and its recently launched “Why I Trained” awareness campaign to address mental health in Chelsea and surrounding communities.
Q: For community members who may not be aware, what is MHAT?
Wilczynski: Back in 2021, Chelsea Hospital received a federally funded grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to provide Mental Health Awareness and Training (MHAT). With this grant we have been able to offer mental health trainings to our community members at no cost, including the range of Mental Health First Aids and Question, Persuade, Refer. Since our first training in January of 2022, we have provided training to 186 members of the 5 Healthy Towns Region – Chelsea, Dexter, Grass Lake, Manchester, and Stockbridge. This equates to roughly one person trained every three days, which means they choose to take initiative and learn more about mental health.
Q: What is the new “Why I Trained” campaign?
Wilczynski: The “Why I Trained” initiative was launched on April 28 of this year. It asks people who have taken part in our mental health trainings to give their reason for doing so, in hopes that their words may inspire others to follow their lead. Since May is Mental Health Awareness Month, there is no better time than now to promote this important message.
Q: Why was it important for you and the MHAT team to have this campaign?
Wilczynski: Everybody has their “why” for completing one of the trainings offered through MHAT, so our goal is to bring everyone together and show that everyone has a reason for doing this. Some people expressed they did it because they wanted the youth of the community to be aware that there are adults willing and able to support them. Others stated they did it because they wanted to be prepared when or if they needed to help someone who was struggling mentally.
Q: What is your goal for the “Why I Trained” campaign?
Wilczynski: We want people to be open with us, the community and their loved ones about why they took our mental health training. In turn we hope to get the word out about mental health training so we can train as many people as possible. Mental health is a struggle for a lot of people, so it’s more important than ever to pay attention to how you’re feeling, as well as your loved ones.
If you are interested in being trained or would like more information about Chelsea Hospital’s MHAT program, please go to www.chelseahospital.org/mhat.
