Effingham, IL -(Effingham Radio)- In July 2018 the group 100 Women Who Care Marshall, Illinois meet. The quarters winner was adult Mental Health First Aid. Just as CPR helps you assist an individual having a heart attack, Mental Health First Aid help you assist someone experiencing a mental health or substance use related crisis. In the 8-hour Mental Health First Aid course, you will learn risk factors and warning signs for mental health and addiction concerns, strategies for how to help someone in both crisis and non-crisis situations, also where and how to turn for help. Mental Health is an area that is gaining attention across the country and is desperately needing additional resources and training.
In the two and a half years, Derrick Sanders has been part of a team working with a grant from the federal government training people in Youth Mental Health First Aid,
he has facilitated or co-facilitated 39+ trainings resulting in 1500 individuals first aiders being trained. The goal was to get Sanders trained as an Adult Mental Health First Aid instructor and to continue educating residents, specific demographics with pertinent classes tailored to their specific needs.
100 women donated $3350 to the Human Resource Center with specific instructions to allow Derrick Sanders to obtain his Adult Instructor Certification. Subsequently HRC spent almost $3000 in the training and sending Sanders to a beneficial Instructor Summit.
100 women does not seek a monetary return on investment, the group wants to see the enhancement of our community and we put our checkbook where our passion is. What 100 women did not know at the time is that the Federal government was offering a 3 times matching grant for communities that took the extra step on their own to promote Mental Health. Which means the groups donation of $3350 was turned into $13,400 to promote mental health in our community.
The Marshall chapter of 100 women installed a scholarship for a young woman from Marshal as she embarks on a higher education journey, with the hopes that they would someday pay it forward. Derrick and Rhonda Sanders have chosen to add to the scholarship by donating $3000 to the 100 Women Who Care scholarship fund with the Marshall Schools Foundation.
The 100 Women Who Care Marshall is forever grateful to Mr. Sanders for his dedication to mental health and sincerely appreciative to him and his wife for inspiring the group.
