Guest perspective: My journey as a mental health first aider

One fall day, I headed across campus to take a mental health first-aid training. Hosted by the National Council for Behavioral Health, the training taught me about mental health issues, the symptoms they present, and how to support someone in crisis until assistance arrives. It was the CPR class of mental health.

The class challenged a myth I had believed my whole life. The instructors taught us to ask people seemingly at risk for suicide, “Are you thinking about killing yourself?” I had assumed it would pop the idea into someone’s mind if I asked. But I learned that it is always better to ask than to regret not asking this question. I left the class feeling empowered to provide mental health first aid in a crisis.

I soon found myself listening in a new way. I was up late that night and saw a man who appeared to be homeless sitting on the curb. I wanted to help, so I asked him what he wanted to eat. A few tacos later, tears began to roll down his face as he opened up to me about his ex-partner. He told me she had cheated on him, and he felt he didn’t deserve love. Most of all, he told me that he had just given away his car and was planning to get rid of the rest of his possessions.

I thought back to my training. He’s showing the signs of planning to complete suicide, I realized.

I got my nerves together to ask him the question, “Are you thinking about killing yourself?” He said that nobody had asked him that before. He told me he felt as if nobody cared about him. I showed him otherwise, simply by listening to him.

That night, I felt truly empowered, since I had never had an interaction like that before. He said he goes to church every Wednesday, so I called his pastor and let him know about our conversation. My friend is OK now.

I began to have more conversations like this in the following months. Some students told me about friends they were concerned about. Others told me they were contemplating whether they should jump off a cliff. In those conversations, far too many of my friends told me that I was first person who had listened to them.

I’m really happy I knew what to do when these situations came up. You can learn by signing up for mental health first-aid training and by learning the early warning signs of suicide. You may think you will never need these skills, but university studies suggest that one in 10 college students have made a plan for suicide. That is too many, and we must do what we can to decrease that figure.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. It’s the month for my friend who shared his tacos and his sorrows with me. It’s for my friends who confided in me because they couldn’t find anyone else. It’s also the month when you can get involved, to learn more about mental health and the resources in our area. It’s the month when we can all heal together.

Siavash Zohoori is a community program specialist at Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, a division of the San Mateo County Health System. The County’s Mental Health Awareness Month kickoff event, a resource and art fair, is Tuesday, May 2 from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the College of San Mateo (Cafeteria Building, 1700 W. Hillsdale Blvd., San Mateo). Go to smchealth.org/mentalhealthmonth for more information.