Bert Nash, DCCCA expand mental health first aid training in Douglas County
Bert Nash and DCCCA are widening Mental Health First Aid classes after training 4,431 people locally, aiming to keep schools and workplaces better prepared.
Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center and DCCCA are expanding Mental Health First Aid training across Douglas County after years of local classes reached 4,431 community members in 359 sessions. The partnership will increase public and private training, broaden outreach and give more residents a chance to learn basic crisis response. Emily Farley, Bert Nash’s chief advancement officer, called it “CPR for the mind.”
Bert Nash began offering Mental Health First Aid in 2008, when it was selected as one of seven pilot sites in the United States. After CEO David Johnson retired in 2017, the Bert Nash Center Endowment Fund was created to keep the training going locally. That money paid for a full-time instructor, and Julia Gaughan became the center’s first dedicated Mental Health First Aid instructor in 2018.
Gaughan retired at the end of 2025. DCCCA leaders Lori Alvarado and Chrissy Mayer stepped in with a plan to build on what already existed. DCCCA had also been doing Mental Health First Aid work and wanted to train more instructors.
Mental Health First Aid is an 8-hour course that teaches people how to help someone developing a mental health problem or experiencing a crisis. Participants learn the ALGEE action plan, a five-step method for supporting someone in distress, and the training now reaches adults, youth, higher-education professionals, older adults and other specialized audiences. The youth version is aimed at adults who teach, care for or support young people.
DCCCA’s Kansas Mental Health First Aid program offers Adult and Youth Mental Health First Aid trainings virtually and in person across Kansas, with general-audience sessions free and typically offered monthly in a blended or virtual format.
The expansion also comes as Douglas County commissioners have been grappling with mental-health financing, including a $700,000 allocation in May to address a shortfall at the Treatment & Recovery Center and discussion of setting aside $1 million for mental health crisis care in 2026.
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