Life comes complete with many stressors. With that knowledge in hand, Project Recovery Iowa is embarking on a new program that takes peer counseling to another level to help individuals handle issues they face. Karen Hyatt, Iowa Disaster Behavior Health Coordinator with the Iowa Department of Human Services has teamed with several organizations across the state, including Keokuk County Public Health, to offer online courses to help people tackle obstacles. This free course, entitled Teens Training Teens, is offered online, in two, hour and a half long segments, to provide skills to administer Psychological First Aid. Hyatt joined KCII News on the JJ Nichting Company In Touch With Southeast Iowa Program to share what Psychological First Aid is, why it’s important that help come from peers and examples of recent stressors for those in the state. “Psychological First Aid is going to be taught by six high school students from across the state. It’s designed to help people gain communication skills to manage stress and cope with post-disaster adversity. The training is just people who want to learn new skills for dealing with crisis not only to help themselves but to help others. Any kind of peer support I think is really well received. We’ve just gone through a natural event. People from Winterset High School are signing up to take this course because it might not have been their home but the community was hit pretty hard. It might even be their parents who are stressed by that, the pandemic or any other issues. People just want to learn some new skills.”
The course is held Tuesday and Thursday, March 29th and 31st from 6-7:30p.m. Each evening. Along with the course this week for teens, there are future dates in April and May for adults. For more information on joining the Teens Training Teens course or upcoming offerings visit the Project Recovery Iowa website or email Hyatt at khyatt@dhs.state.ia.us. Listen to the full program with Hyatt on Tuesday’s JJ Nichting Company In Touch With Southeast Iowa on-air and online at KCIIradio.com.