I (MEDIC instructor Matt) recently took a Mental Heath First Aid course (only $25), and found it to be a very good class. I took the Adult version (there's a Youth version as well). I recommend taking it; you can find one at mentalhealthfirstaid.org In Charlottesville, VA, Region Ten offers it, phone 434-970-1282

Part of the course is to learn an acronym for the steps on how to treat someone suffering a mental health emergency. After much thought I created the following acronym which I find to be more helpful:

SLEH:

S = Suicide or Self-injury risk?

L = Listen

E = Empathize

H = Help them by offering to assist with some daily life tasks, and/or referring them to higher-trained Help, family/friend/peer Help, or self-Help outlets. A bonus H is seeing if you can give them Hope.

As usual, for those of you who have taken a dtWFA course, the Patient Assessment System elements apply, in particular AMPLE History and Vital Signs (especially important for someone with a possible alcohol / drug overdose)