NewBridge Services Offers Mental Health First Aid Training in Parsippany Sept. 27 and 29

During National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, NewBridge Services will teach Mental Health First Aid training to the public at the NewBridge Parsippany Center on both Sept. 27 and Sept. 29

Participants in the 8-hour training will learn how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety disorders, trauma and psychosis, as well as substance abuse. More than 660,000 people nationwide have taken MHFA training, and the goal is for more than 1 million people to become MHFA responders.

“With one in four American adults affected by some type of mental illness, people need to learn how to help a person in crisis,’’ said Robert L. Parker, CEO of NewBridge Services. NewBridge is a nonprofit provider of counseling services, housing and educational programs serving residents of Morris, Sussex and Passaic counties.

“We want people to be able to intervene in a mental health crisis, much the way do in a medical crisis by doing CPR,” Parker said.

To sign up for training at NewBridge on either Tuesday, Sept. 27 or Thursday, Sept. 29, contact Mary Vineis, NewBridge director of Community Response and Education, at mvineis@newbridge.org or by calling 973-316-9333. Sessions run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The NewBridge Parsippany Center is located in the Troy Office Centre, 1259 Rt. 46 East, Building 2.

Go to http://www.mentalhealthfirstai... to learn more about MHFA and the campaign to train 1 million responders. To learn more about NewBridge, visit newbridge.org.

About NewBridge

NewBridge Services, a 501c(3) nonprofit, is a premier provider of counseling services, housing and educational programs in northern New Jersey serving more than 8,500 children, adults and seniors each year. NewBridge treats mental illnesses and addictions; teaches skills for coping with stress, grief and challenging relationships; builds and manages affordable housing; offers school-based programs that teach children and adolescents resiliency skills for healthy emotional development; helps young adults succeed in their education and prepare for careers; and supports seniors so they can remain independent. Throughout its more than 50-year history, NewBridge has remained true to its mission of bringing balance to people’s lives by tracking shifts in communities’ needs and providing innovative, effective programs to meet them.