Harford County Mental Health & Safety Community Education Program

About the Program

Category: Health (Best in Category)

Year: 2019

Following a rash of mass shootings, Harford County, Maryland launched a series of free classes on mental health and safety in 2018 empowering citizens to peacefully resolve conflict and help others in crisis. The ongoing series entitled Harford County Mental Health + Safety Community Education Program offered classes in suicide prevention, conflict resolution, mental health awareness, CPR and Stop the Bleed training, and related presentations by Harford County Public Schools and the Harford County Sheriff’s Office. The series brought together trainers from county government, public schools and law enforcement to teach citizens as young as 12 how to recognize the warning signs of mental illness and build bridges to mental wellness in their families, their neighborhoods and in the community. Offered for the first time in the spring of 2018 and again in the fall, the program reached 199 citizens who rated the program an average of 4.6 out of 5 for effectiveness.