The Community Helpers Program aims to promote mental wellbeing and raise awareness about the issue of suicide among youth and young adults, ages 12-30.
We do this by training the natural helpers in our community to support young people who may be struggling.
By equipping the natural helpers in our community with helping skills, we can catch problems before they become serious, promote professional supports when needed and boost our ability and willingness to look out for each other, creating a mentally supportive community in a cost-effective way.
Helpers include any supportive person youth and young adults are likely to turn to when they’re struggling, such as their peers, parents, teachers, coaches, managers, volunteers, mentors and other youth allies. Young people are more likely to come to these informal supports for help than professional ones.
Helpers don’t replace trained mental health professionals, in fact a great deal of the training focuses on when and how to help people access professional supports.
The Community Helpers Program teaches:
- how to help a youth or young adults who may be struggling
- how to take care of your own wellbeing when you are a helper to someone else
- mental health and suicide awareness
- other issues youth and young adults may be facing
- professional resources in the community and when and how to access them
The Community Helpers Program also occasionally offers additional related training to boost helpers’ skills and wellbeing. The program is offered in community organizations, workplaces, schools and to members of the general public who support youth and young adults
If you’re interested in having the CHP come to your community organization, workplace or school, you can make a request by contacting community helpers.
If you’re a parent that wants to see this program in your school, please contact your child’s teacher. They can request to have the Community Helpers Program in your child’s class or school.
Check out the YouTube video on the Cochrane Community Helpers Program.
For current program offerings, please visit the Town Activity Guide.