Berkeley County Schools Offering Free Mental Health Classes

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Berkeley County Public Schools received a grant last year called “Project Aware” that will bring therapists to schools to help students, and allow Berkeley County to provide free mental health classes for adults.

The mental health classes will teach adults to recognize the risk factors and warning signs of mental health concerns through a 5 step program called ALGEE.

The steps of ALGEE include:

A – Assess for risk of suicide or harm
L – Listen nonjudgementally
G – Give reassurance and information
E – Encourage appropriate professional help
E – Encourage self help and other support strategies

Kija Wilson, Project Aware Trainer and Evaluator for Berkeley County Public Schools, has taught these classes to over 250 people from the Eastern Panhandle, including local teachers and law enforcement.

She stated she just wants as many people as possible to take a course, especially those that live or work in the area.

Wilson also said, “If I could train everybody in Berkeley County that would be great, and I could easily use all of my time to do that.”

The classes are an eight-hour course from 8 AM to 5 PM, and will be held at the Ramer Center on W. Martin Street in Martinsburg.

For more information, visit www.mentalhealthfirstaid.com, and to sign up for a class, call Kija Wilson at 304-263-4681 or email [email protected].