Hi folks, I dunno if this corner of the forum is still active anymore, but worth a try. I recently read about Walgreens providing mental health first aid training to all pharmacists (or some subset of their staff). I think this kind of thing would be incredibly valuable for all martial arts instructors to have, and would love if my studio implemented it. 2 questions: do you know where one goes about setting up or getting such training? I'm guessing it's some online mooc (coursera, opencourseware, udacity) with some sort of certification program or whatever. But if anyone knows of a good one (reasonably priced) and/or how to assess the quality/content, that would be great my sensei, being 60+ year old immigrant who's been the sole proprietor of a small business that he's run singlehandedly for 30+ years, is rather (ahem) resistant to change. How do I go about overcoming his resistance to such an idea (and to any change in general)? Thanks! -Dave
Thats more geared around IDing patients with addiction issues that havnt been picked up by their Drs, the unusual set up Americans have with their Drs is a reason for this. What area do you think martial arts coaches should have training on?
Hi @Dead_pool , Thanks for the input, and interesting question. I see a couple of prongs to this. I suspect not too many drug addicts sign up for karate classes. But given the ever-increasing pressure to perform well in school and get into a good college, there's probably a lot of kids struggling with anxiety and depression (I'm former, my sister latter). If instructors are trained to spot signals escalate to parents for counseling, that could be a quick win. Perhaps they could also be trained to look for tell-tale signs of other problems kids face such as domestic violence, bullying, eating disorders, and self-harm (the latter 2 esp among teenage girls). Better still would be if instructors are trained in the basics of mental health to embed best practice and mindfulness into the fabric of class, but that likely exceeds what I imagine an 8 hour "first aid" program could cover. It would more likely require consultation from an expert therapist. And if we're really talking pie in the sky, I personally would like to get training on drug rehab counseling and create a specialized curriculum of how to use martial arts as a vehicle for helping crack and opioid addicts. But again, that would take a lot more training and logistics, so probably not immediately forthcoming.
