Mental Health First Aid
LWTech is proud to offer Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training to our interested students, faculty, and staff. This full-day synchronous online course uses role-playing and simulations to demonstrate how to offer initial help in mental health crisis and connect persons to the appropriate professional, peer, social, and self-help care. The course teaches about the common risk factors and warning signs of anxiety, depression, substance use, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, schizophrenia, and suicide ideation.
Mental Health First Aid teaches participants a five-step action plan. Like CPR, Mental Health First Aid prepares participants to interact with a person in crisis and connect the person with help. MHFA First Aiders DO NOT take on the role of professionals — they do not diagnose or provide any counseling or therapy. Instead, the program offers evidence-based practices to guide one in situations where one might be asking, "What should I do?" and "What resources are there to help?"
LWTech Employees Certified as MHFA Trainers
In 2018, LWTech was awarded a grant from the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) which allowed us to have several employees become certified MHFA trainers. Since that time, LWTech has invested in this program which has allowed ongoing MHFA training funded by the college. Our employees trained as MHFA trainers have now offered MHFA training to over 200 colleagues so far.
This is our second group of MHFA Trainers, having received their MHFA trainer certifications in 2022.
Back row: Angela Bebina, Elena Shirokova, Sheila Walton, and Sharon Raz. Front row: Sally Heilstedt, Katie Peacock, and Amber Wyman
Recognition of Employees
Since 2019, nearly 200 LWTech employees have completed MHFA to become First Aiders. This means they have learned how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders, and should be able to provide initial help and support to those that may be experiencing a crisis.
We want to recognize the LWTech employees that have taken the full-day MHFA training with our trained facilitators.
Completed MHFA Training
Fall 2023
- Eden Cumby
- Katie Hawkins
- Samara Jamison-Heydon
- Gail Lawnicki
- Vahid Rafat Manesh
- Jermey Ross
- Sophie Wang
Summer 2023
- Alexandru Cotutiu
- Mandana Ehsanipour
- Letha Fernandez
- Amy Flinn
- Elijah Galan
- Warren Henderson
- Angela Huleen
- Sara Wright
- Nancy Yang
Spring 2023
- Nicole Beckenhauer
- Julie Boyd
- Christine Bradshaw
- Lisa Carmack
- Melanie Carpenter
- Maret Carrillo
- Karina Castro
- Brenda Forsse
- Ann Gugat
- Tara James
- Caleigh Nordan
- Isabella Sebastiani
- Rainer Stahlberg
- Elaine Wright
- Zhou Wu
Winter 2023
- Asma Abdulrahman
- Alisa Amundson
- Janet Anderson
- Johnny Calavitta
- Samantha Carrillo
- Lauren Cline
- Tish Evora
- Elisa Fitzpatrick
- Carolyn Holmes
- Liudmila Isakova
- Sue Kuestner
- Hannah Lee
- Mony Loeum
- Rachel Manier
- Karin Navarro
- Meena Park
- Grace Reid
- Rex Rempel
- Clarita Reyes
- Aaron Sparks
- Suryaraj (Raj) Vhan
- Stacy Woodruff
- Sue Wozniak
Fall 2022
- Angel Aguilar-Corrales
- Lily Alvarez
- Rebecca Carson
- Amber Chiozza
- Mila Tari
- Thu Vo
- Nomita Yadav
Summer 2022
- Angela Bebina
- Nicole Cortes
- Morgan Flake
- Florena Gouacide
- Timothy Gracie
- Marcelo Guerra Hahn
- Daniel Horned
- Vikki Korsunskaya
- Rechelle Schimke
- Priyamvada Singh
Summer 2022 (Completed to Become MHFA Trainers)
- Angela Bebina
- Sally Heilstedt
- Katie Peacock
- Sharon Raz
- Elena Shirokova
- Sheila Walton
- Amber Wyman
Fall 2021
- Tina Akinyi
- Juliette Blank
- Tramayne Bryson
- Laura Drake
- Andrew Fischer
- Sam Gracie
- Anita Hedlund
- Brad Henshaw
- Caroline Leffall
- Rita Magalhaes
- Sherry McLean
- Vanessa Palomino
- Elaine Sawyer
- Julie Ta
- Tara Wend
- Heather Wildes
Spring 2021
- Matt Allen
- Greg Bem
- Valerie Bouagnon
- Samantha Carrillo
- Linda Costarella
- Niki Fleetwood
- Jenee Kramer
- Katrina Larrabee
- Karen Lee
- Caroline Leffall
- Adrian Martin
- Sarah Mason
- Javed Masood
- Mary Powers
- Michael Richmond
- Hany Roufael
- Elena Shirokova
- Rainer Stahlberg
- Kelly Terrell
- Raj Vhan
- Aihua Zhang
Winter 2021
- Suzanne Ames
- Cathy Copeland
- Ruby Hayden
- Sally Heilstedt
- Darcy Kipnis
- Lisa Meehan
- Amy Morrison
- Elisabeth Sorensen
Fall 2020
- Lisa Anderson
- Sarah Chandler
- Tien Do
- David Fox
- Madeleine Gorges
- Elsa Gossett
- Jayne Heyde
- Amber Histake
- Alysen Laakso
- James Laurae
- Gail Lawnicki
- Maria Morales
- Earhart Reinhart
- Kathryn Rogers
- Carol Rypkema
- Erin Vasishtah
- James Wagner
Fall 2019
- Asma Abdulrahman
- Hamza Abdulrahman
- Cherie Bachman
- Audry Bernal
- Demetra Biros
- Casey Brodeur
- Federick Brooks
- Kevin Bueing
- Erick Calixto
- Vicki Chew
- An Chu
- Alexandru Cotutiu
- Katherine Davidow-Lucas
- Heidi Davis
- Cathy Donaldson
- Jennifer Filipovich
- Lauren Heller
- Robin Huesca
- Katherine Kelley
- Teryn Kilgore
- Josephine Kiu
- Tia Lawson
- Michael Leary
- Luellen Lockwood
- Mony Loeum
- Sean Marushia
- Crystal McKeag
- Casey Melnrick
- Tisha Miller
- Michele Ng
- Rudy Oppermann
- Katie Peacock
- Sharon Raz
- Lisa Reents
- Karis Roberts
- Sherly Rodriguez
- Claire Rogers
- Daria Schubert
- Albert Skoczylas
- Erin Smith
- Anna Spaulding
- Kathleen Stewart
- Lynne Szymanski
- Trieu Trong
- Yelena Tsuber
- Christine Turpin
- Karyna Tytar
- Ali Valibeigi
- Steven Weaver
- Greg Weyer
- Sue Wozniak
- Amber Wyman
Summer 2019
- Ahmad Bennett
- Anna Bennett
- Michelle Berry
- Stephanie Bostwick
- Mihaela Cosma
- Rhonda DeWitt
- Cara Henry
- Kaytlyn Hoch
- Maia Lacher
- Arthur Land
- Jenny Rogoff
- Meisha Wangerin
Upcoming MHFA for LWTech
We will be offering MHFA trainings nearly every month in the 2022-23 academic year for LWTech.