Mental Health

At KC Healthy Kids, we’re broadening our approach to healthy communities to include mental health. We’ve partnered with Dr. Nancy Osborn, a licensed counseling psychologist, to support staff and families in our Healthy Kids Bright Futures project and to offer trainings on trauma informed care, mindfulness and Mental Health First Aid and Youth Mental Health First Aid. For information, email Dr. Nancy Osborn

Mental Health Resource List

If you need help and aren’t sure who to call, check our new Mental Health Resource List

Mental Health First Aid and Youth Mental Health First Aid

Just as taking a first aid class helps you assist someone who is having a heart attack — even if you have no medical training, Mental Health First Aid helps you identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illness and substance abuse. After all, mental health disorders are common, and affect one in four adults.

Dr. Nancy Osborn is KC Healthy Kids’ in-house psychologist and is one of the few certified instructors for Mental Health First Aid and Youth Mental Health First Aid in the Kansas City area. She has a Ph.D. in counseling psychology and three decades’ experience in providing therapy to others.    

Over an 8-hour course, teams and individuals will learn:

• •   Risk factors and warning signs for mental health and addiction
  •   Ways to help someone in crisis and non-crisis situations
  •   Where to turn for help.

Courses are evidence-based and proven to help participants respond quickly and with confidence when someone is experiencing a mental health crisis such as:

• •   Suicidal behavior
  •   Anxiety
  •   Eating disorders
  •   Depression
  •   Psychosis
  •   Mood disorders
  •   Non-suicidal self-injury

Anyone can benefit from mental health first aid training:

• •   Health care & service providers
  •   First responders (police, fire, paramedics)
  •   Government agencies
  •   Faith-based organizations
  •   Businesses and corporations
  •   Libraries, schools & colleges
  •   Community groups
  •   Parents
  •   Anyone who interacts with the general public

Stigmas associated with mental illness often make it difficult for people to ask for help or to give help. Mental health first aid courses reduce the power of mental health stigmas by equipping people with basic mental health knowledge. The courses also foster early intervention, which is key in a person’s ability to recover from, or to learn to successfully live with, mental illness.