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Action News: Thousands training in Jacksonville to spot signs of mental illness
Action News
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Right now, someone close to you could be going through a mental health crisis and you might not even know it.
Nearly 270,000 people in Northeast Florida are living with a mental health issue. But now, a new coalition in Jacksonville has a plan to train thousands of people to recognize the signs of mental illness.
“He was crying out for help, and we didn’t recognize it that he was crying out for help,” Karen Howard said, referring to her 30-year-old son Robert Howard Jr., who took his own life five years ago.
“He was telling me all these different things. He was kind of talking out of his head, like he was seeing angels and different things like that,” she said.
But at the time, she didn’t recognize that these signs could be more of a serious problem.
“Everything just started flooding back, because I knew I should’ve recognized those signs, and I didn’t recognize them,” Howard said.
On Monday afternoon, at Florida State College at Jacksonville, dozens of people were training to recognize the signs of mental illness. Nearly 270,000 people are living with a mental health issue in Northeast Florida, according to a Jacksonville Community Council report.
But only 41 percent of those people are treated. Five Jacksonville hospitals recognized the problem and joined together to form the Jacksonville Metropolitan Community Benefit Partnership. The goal is to train 10,000 people by 2019, at places like FSCJ.
“People don’t have the support that they need,” said Dr. Monica Franklin, academic director for health sciences at FSCJ.
Franklin said it’s not only important to recognize the signs, but to understand and comfort those who are struggling.
“We want to teach individuals how to assess risks of suicidal harm, we want to teach them to listen non judgmentally, how to give reassurance and information to individuals,” Franklin said.
“We have to get the stigma out there of not talking about it, but talking about it, because you know, it is real,” Howard said.
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